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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29153511">Sealskin</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indig0/pseuds/Indig0'>Indig0</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bad Father Carl Manfred, Elijah Kamski &amp; Gavin Reed are Siblings, Elijah is a good brother, Half-Selkie!Gavin, M/M, Selki!Leo, Selkie AU, Selkie!Elijah, Selkies, female selkies can shift forms any time, half breeds can't normally change at all, just bad at relating to people, male selkies can only turn human once every seven years</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:35:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>29,367</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29153511</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indig0/pseuds/Indig0</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Thirty years after Gavin’s mother and brother abandoned him as a boy, he hasn’t stopped trying to find a way to join them in the sea as a seal.<br/>Leo’s a selkie whose life has spiraled out of control.  When he loses his skin after another fight with his father, it seems like that’s the end of his life underwater.</p><p>After pulling Leo out of the water (twice), Gavin realizes the selkie may be the key to his lifelong dream.  If he can stand keeping him around until the next Septennial, the seven-year celebration when all selkies can take on human form.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Leo Manfred/Gavin Reed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>91</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>DBH AU Big Bang 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveofswords/gifts">fiveofswords</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My entry for the DBH AU Big Bang!  Thanks to Ari, who beta read for me and completely saved the plot at least once.<br/>And thanks to <a href="https://deviant-sasshole.tumblr.com/">Jillybeanjoy</a>, my artist partner in this!</p><p> </p><p>  </p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The little boy crouched by a tide pool, gazing intently into the still water.  A tiny crab peered out from under a rock.  He didn’t want to scare it, but there was an abalone shell shimmering nearby.  Slowly he reached out, keeping his chubby hand low, barely moving.  The crab watched suspiciously, claws raised.  When he reached into the cold water, it took a step back.  But the boy closed his fingers around the shell and began pulling it out just as slowly.</p><p>“Gavin!”</p><p>The boy jumped, splashing the water a little as he pulled back quickly.  The crab darted back in its hiding place.</p><p>“The fuck are you doing down there!?  I told you not to play by the water!”</p><p>Gavin stumbled along the uneven, slippery rocks, to the path where his father stood.  “Sorry, I was looking for shells!”  He held up his small canvas bag.</p><p>“Where’s your brother?” asked his father, pushing it aside.  “I have to get to work, and you know your mother doesn’t like going near the water.”</p><p>“He’s not there!” Gavin said, lifting his voice a little to try to match the older man’s tone.</p><p>“Fucking…  Just go home,” his father muttered.  “I’m going to work, I’ll be back for lunch.”</p><p>Gavin ducked around his father and ran down the path to their house.</p><p>“Eli?” he called when he got close.  “Eli, where are you?”</p><p>He wasn’t up on the roof or in the broken-down car or in the scratchy pine tree.  He wasn’t on the porch or behind the couch or in their room.</p><p>“Momma, do you know where Eli is?”</p><p>She turned from the sink, smiling softly as she brushed her long dark hair back from her face.  “He went out to the barn.”</p><p>Gavin’s nose wrinkled.  “Why?”</p><p>She laughed and shuffled forward to hug him.  “He didn’t say, but I think he was working on something.”</p><p>The boy ran up and hugged her tightly – she always smelled like salt air.  Then he ran outside.</p><p>The barn had housed animals in the past, but now it was all old rusting machinery.  Elijah was fitting bits of metal together carefully, referring to some drawings scattered around the floor now and then.</p><p>“Dad says you have to go in the house,” Gavin said, wiping his nose on his sleeve.</p><p>“He’s not my dad,” Eli muttered.</p><p>“You always say that.”</p><p>“It’s always true.”</p><p>Gavin glared at him.  “Not like it matters, he doesn’t like either of us.”</p><p>“He likes you more than me.”  Eli shrugged, but Gavin knew it was true and he knew it bothered Eli.  Gavin was secretly glad, because if Dad liked Eli more, he… he didn’t know what he’d do.  Cry, probably, and try to be better.  Try even more than he already did.</p><p>Gavin sighed deeply.  “…He still said go inside.”</p><p>“Didn’t he go to work yet?” Eli asked, not looking up.</p><p>“Yeah, he just left.”</p><p>“Then he won’t be back for a long time.”</p><p>He continued to work.  Gavin stared at him.</p><p>“But he said go in and help Mom.”</p><p>Finally Elijah looked up, steely blue eyes meeting Gavin’s gray-green ones.  “But if he’s not here, he won’t know.”  He paused.  “Unless you tell.”</p><p>“He said,” Gavin muttered stubbornly.  The other kids in their class would have cornered him and hit him until he cried, but Eli just rolled his eyes.</p><p>“I’ll go in ten minutes.  I have to finish this.”</p><p>“Dad’s gonna be so mad, Eli…”</p><p>“So don’t tell him.  He only gets mad when he knows.”</p><p>But he always knew.  When Gavin had colored on the wall under his desk, he’d known.  When he’d snuck down to play in the waves and made sure his clothes were dry by evening, he’d known.  When the two had brought home an injured bird and kept it in their closet, he’d known.  Gavin shifted from foot to foot.</p><p>“Just five minutes?” he finally asked.  “Please?”</p><p>“Nine.”</p><p>“No, five.”</p><p>“What about eight?”</p><p>Gavin frowned.  “Eli –“</p><p>“Fine!  Five minutes.  Startinnnnnnnnnnng…  Rrrriiiiiiiiiiiiight…  Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn…  now!”</p><p>Gavin huffed in frustration and stomped to the other side of the barn.  Eli always made him mad.  When they went inside, maybe he could make cookies with Momma.  Maybe she’d tell him stories of undersea kingdoms and lost princesses while they baked, and then they could eat together.  Maybe she’d hold him and sing to him in the afternoon, even though she said he was getting too big to sit in her lap now.</p><p>The floor was creaky and rough on this side of the barn, and Gavin pushed down on each board with his foot before stepping on it.  Some of them were coming loose.  One was bent up under a tarp, and Gavin pressed on it a few times before pulling the tarp up.  The board was warped and curving, exposing rusty nails on the underside as it bent upwards.  Underneath it was dark, but there was something rectangular down there.  Gavin pushed the tarp back a little more and crept closer, squatting down to look.  There was a plain, dusty wooden box in the darkness.  He looked around.  Eli was still working on his metal stuff.  Gavin carefully pulled it out.</p><p>It was a plain box made of rough wood, and another board had been nailed over the side that opened.  Gavin picked at it, pulling back when his nail bend backwards.  He stuck his finger in his mouth, sucking it and blinking back tears.  Not in front of Eli…</p><p>Gavin set the box down and looked over.  His brother was intent on his work, so Gavin edged over and grabbed a screwdriver.</p><p>“What are you doing?”</p><p>Gavin jumped.  “N-nothing!  I just wanna use this.”</p><p>Elijah looked up.  “Are you crying?”</p><p>“No!  Leave me alone, five minutes!”</p><p>“Okay.”  Eli grinned.  “But I can see your fingers.”</p><p>Gavin quickly balled his hands into fists, hiding the webbing between his fingers.  “I – I can see <i>your</i> fingers!”</p><p>“I know, I’m working.”  Elijah shrugged, still grinning.</p><p>“You’re just playing, you’re not making anything real,” Gavin muttered, walking away with the screwdriver, hands carefully in front of him.</p><p>“You’ll see.”</p><p>Eli was weird sometimes.  They had similar faces, but where Gavin’s was rounded and expressive, Elijah’s was thinner and his expression was closed.  Gavin never really knew what he was thinking, and sometimes that scared him.  Dad didn’t like him much, and Eli acted like he didn’t care but Gavin knew he really did.  Momma loved him, though.  Maybe more than she loved Gavin, so he had to be extra nice and helpful.  He crouched over the box with the screwdriver and shoved it into a crack.  It took a few tries, but the wood finally came apart with a sharp crack.</p><p>“What are you doing?” asked Eli, but Gavin wasn’t listening.</p><p>Inside the splintery box was a seal skin.  The fur was short and soft, and as he slowly lifted it out of the box it had a heavy, comforting feel to it.  It shone in the sunlight that streamed through the doorway, deep chocolatey brown and black, and the heavy hide seemed to cling to his arms.  Gavin was mesmerized by it.</p><p>“What’s that?”</p><p>He jumped – Eli was right behind him, frowning.</p><p>“I – I found it.  Under the floor.”</p><p>“That’s… a seal skin,” Elijah murmured.  “Can I touch it?”</p><p>Gavin held it out, keeping a tight grip, but Elijah’s slim hand ghosted over it lightly.  He shivered a little.</p><p>“I’m gonna show Mom.  Are you coming?  It’s been five minutes.”</p><p>Slowly, Eli nodded, unable to tear his eyes from the shimmering fur.  Gavin gathered the long pelt to his chest and ran inside.</p><p>“Momma?” he called.  “…Mom?”</p><p>“In here,” she called from the front room.  She liked to sit by the window and sew or read, looking out the window sometimes towards the sea.  The water wasn’t visible from the house, but it was just over the ridge…</p><p>“Look what I found in the barn!” Gavin exclaimed breathlessly, and shoved the seal skin into her hands.</p><p>Momma always had a soft, gentle expression on her face – sometimes sad when nobody was looking, usually happy with her sons.  With the fur in her hands her face went blank and she suddenly straightened up.  Gavin had seen her admiring seal skins in the market sometimes – she touched them, she rubbed them with her fingers, she draped them over her arm… and then she put them back, looking sad.  Her breath caught in her throat as she did the same with this one.</p><p>“What is it?” Eli asked, only he sounded a little choked and his voice cracked.</p><p>Momma stood up, dropping her sewing.  “We need to go now,” she said firmly, with a steel in her voice Gavin had never heard before.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“We’re going out.  Right now, all three of us.”  She looked at Elijah, then at Gavin, and she hesitated but nodded firmly.  “Come on.”</p><p>“D-do we need anything?” Gavin asked uncertainly.  Momma didn’t go outside with them much.</p><p>“No,” Elijah murmured.</p><p>“No,” She repeated with certainty, walking to the kitchen and slipping something into her skirts.  “We’re going.  Come on.”</p><p>She led her two boys outside, and though she walked slowly with a bit of a limp, she moved with purpose.  Gavin glanced at Elijah.  The older boy looked… scared.  Momma had draped the fur around her shoulders, and Elijah clutched the corner.</p><p>She stopped on the rocky shore just short of where the waves lapped at the land, and swayed a bit as if being pulled forward.  When she turned to them her eyes were a deeper brown than Gavin had ever seen them.</p><p>“Come away with me,” she said, only her voice was different somehow, deeper and resonating, and the sealskin cloak clung to her.  The two boys stepped up to her, their eyes full and their legs trembling.  She drew out her hand, holding the big kitchen shears.  Gavin and Elijah stared as she pulled her cloak from Elijah’s hand and began cutting at the thick hide.  “This should be enough,” she murmured to herself.  “I’m smaller now, I’ve lost… lost so much of myself.  It should be enough.  It has to be.”</p><p>She cut a big rough triangle off the side and draped it around Elijah’s thin shoulders, then wrapped him in a tight hug, kissing his forehead softly and murmuring something Gavin couldn’t quite hear.  Then she pushed him gently into the waves.  He stumbled and turned, watching her with big eyes, wet and dark, clutching the seal skin around himself.</p><p>She turned to Gavin and began to cut again.  She was always sitting, moving slowly, hunched over, and Gavin remembered she used to be plump and soft, but he realized she was thin now.  Not thin like Elijah, but… not how she should be.  He didn’t like it.</p><p>It took longer this time, and they all kept looking back towards the path nervously, but finally she had an uneven swath that she draped over Gavin’s shoulders.  “There, pull it tight.”</p><p>He did, wrapping it close around himself.  It was warm, and smelled like her.  It hung heavy on him, but didn’t quite cling the way it did with Elijah.  He looked up at her, worried.</p><p>“It… it’s dry, it will take a… a minute.  Here.”  She scooped up water in her hands and poured it over the skin around him.  He could feel it growing heavier, and pulled and twisted it around himself, but it was still just a dead piece of skin.  Elijah watched solemnly, swaying in the cold waves.</p><p>She took a deep, ragged breath, bowing her head.  “I’m sorry.”</p><p>“M-Momma?” Gavin whispered.</p><p>She wrapped him in a tight hug, almost too tight, and kissed his forehead. “I love you.  I’m so sorry, love.  Never forget that I love you.”</p><p>“W-what?”</p><p>She gave him one last squeeze then held him at arm’s length for a moment, just looking at him.  Behind her Eli was biting his bottom lip.</p><p>“I need you to do something for me,” she said softly, stroking his hair.  “Can you put the shears back in the drawer?”</p><p>He grasped at her hands immediately.  “N-no, I’m not supposed to.  I can’t.  Come with me.”</p><p>“You’re a big boy, you go all over by yourself.  You’re brave and you’re strong.”  She smiled sadly, cupping his round face.  “Please put them away.  You know where they go.”</p><p>“I don’t want you to leave!” he sobbed, tears beginning to run down his face.</p><p>“I know, love.  I won’t leave you.”  She glanced back at Eli as she spoke.  He was shivering.</p><p>“Y-you promise?”  Gavin’s voice wavered.  He didn’t want to go.</p><p>“I promise.”  She looked away from him.</p><p>It felt wrong, but she’d promised.  He took the big shears in shaky hands, and she gently pulled the piece of seal skin away from him.</p><p>“C-can I… take that?” he asked, grasping after it.</p><p>Her eyes grew even sadder.  “No,” she whispered.  “No, I’m sorry.  Go now.  Don’t run, keep the points down.”</p><p>Gavin turned away and headed back to the path, back towards home.  She’d promised she wouldn’t leave, promised she’d be there when he got back.  She’d promised, and she loved him, and he believed her.  He wanted to believe her.  He walked faster and jammed the shears into the drawer, then raced back to the beach as fast as he could.</p><p>It was empty.  He’d known it would be empty, but he screamed.  He screamed for his mother, for Eli.  Mostly he just screamed and sobbed to the merciless waves.</p><p>He was still screaming, shoulder-deep in the cold water with his face tear-stained and splotchy, when his father ran up, the ruined wood box in hand.</p><p>“What happened?” he demanded, grabbing Gavin’s shoulder.  “Where’s your mother?”</p><p>Gavin couldn’t form words, could barely think, could only continue to sob roughly.</p><p>“Goddamn it boy, what the hell did you do!?” shouted his father, running into the waves.  “Get back here!” he cried to the sea, but no one answered.  After a moment of useless searching he turned back towards land, back towards Gavin, panting and red-faced.  The boy shrank in on himself and continued to weep.  As his father stalked through the water towards him, dripping and furious, Gavin saw two seals poke their heads out of the surf.  A small female, thinner than she should be, and a young pup.  Eyes, big and brown, deep and wet, watching him as he was pulled back to land.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It wasn’t fair, none of this was fair.  He was Carl’s son, not that half-breed.  He’d done his best.  Sure he’d made some stupid choices, but he’d always taken care of his skin.  He’d been sorely tempted to sell it when the money ran out, and he could’ve fetched a heap of cash for it, but he’d done the right thing and held onto it.  And now he was neck-deep in sea water and his legs wouldn’t fuse, his body wouldn’t fill out, his eyes wouldn’t deepen and grow.  His teeth were short and flat, and his eyes stung from the salt.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Septennial Night was in full swing, with all the local selkies in attendance.  There was lively, haunting music and laughter in the air as dancers in fine seal skin cloaks twirled around the open ballroom floor under strings of colorful lights.  Waves lapped at the shore of the phantom island, which would appear on no maps.  There were delicate hor d'oeuvres that guests sampled lightly, and a variety of drinks in thin crystal flutes.  Paintings and sculptures were displayed around the island, and guests who weren’t dancing strolled around looking at them.</p><p>A lanky teenage boy clutched a dappled gray seal skin cape around his thin shoulders and furtively skirted the edge of the gathering.  He was hoping to avoid everyone but the reason he came here, and no one bothered him aside from a few critical looks.</p><p>Over to the side, a dignified elderly man sat in a stone seat.  He was turned to the right, talking with a slim young man.  The boy hesitated, then walked up to them slowly, looking everywhere but at the two.  They were talking about ways to give the hybrid children of humans and selkies the ability to become like their seal parent.  It seemed complicated and unnecessary, and the boy didn’t see why anyone would waste their time on that even if it wasn’t complete shit.</p><p>“Preliminary tests have gone well, but we need to ensure nothing… unexpected happens,” the younger selkie was saying.</p><p>“Um,” the boy spoke up.</p><p>The two glanced over briefly, then turned to him.  The younger man looked bemused and the older one irritated.  The boy took a breath and pushed back his thick, dark hair.</p><p>“Um, I’m… my name… is Leo, I’m… my mother was Lorelai?”  He swallowed thickly.  The two stared at him.  “Y-you knew her,” he assured the older man, then he took another breath and steeled himself.  “She said you were… you’re my… m-my… my dad.”</p><p>He stood there hugging himself tightly.</p><p>A frown had formed on the elderly man’s face.  “Lorelai’s boy?  I send a monthly stipend…”</p><p>“Yeah.  Y-yeah, I just… I wanted… to meet you.”  Leo couldn’t look at those sharp, critical eyes.</p><p>“Elijah, let me get back to you another time,” the old man said, his gaze never leaving Leo’s face.</p><p>“We’ll talk later, Carl,” murmured the young man who was probably around ten years older than Leo.  He slipped away leaving the two alone.</p><p>Carl’s face softened a bit.  “Well… it’s good to finally meet you.  Tell me what you’ve done with your life so far.”</p><p>Leo blinked owlishly.  “Oh.  Uh.  J-just… I’m… learning, mostly.  Studying.  Um.  I help… with hunting and keeping up the house.  I do some salvage sometimes.  Sometimes other stuff.  Not, uh… not a lot, I guess.”</p><p>Carl’s frown was back.  “That doesn’t sound very lucrative.  What are you studying?”</p><p>“Oh, um.  Just… just like… normal stuff,” Leo said, looking away in embarrassment.  “Just like… history, math, literature… whatever…”</p><p>“Whatever,” Carl repeated flatly.  “Are you at all interested in the arts?”</p><p>“Uh, I… I like music,” Leo said helplessly.  “And… And I’ve tried making… art like… like paintings and sculptures a couple times, I’m not very good.”</p><p>“Well it takes practice.  Dedication.  You can’t give up after only a few attempts if you ever expect to amount to anything,” Carl said, waving his hand dismissively.</p><p>Leo’s shoulders hunched up.  “I – yeah, I know, I just…”</p><p>“Well?  How old are you, fourteen?  You should have some idea of what you’re doing by now.”</p><p>Tears prickled at his eyes and he squeezed them shut for a moment.  “I’m sixteen.”</p><p>“Sixteen!”  Carl shook his head.  “When I was sixteen, I couldn’t stop painting.  …Are your studies going well, at least?”</p><p>“Uh.”  Leo swallowed thickly, digging his sharp nails into his palms.  “Th-they’re… it’s… it’s pretty good, I’m… yeah, it’s okay.”</p><p>Carl was silent, and when Leo dared to look up he caught an expression of pity and disapproval on the old man’s face.  “What does your mother think of… your progress?  Does she know you’re here?”</p><p>“Some fishermen caught her.”  He tried to keep his voice steady, but it wobbled and cracked.  “About a month ago.”</p><p>“Oh,” Carl breathed, and sorrow crossed his worn face.  “I’m sorry, my boy.  She was… always so vibrant, so full of life and energy.  A work of art in her own right.”</p><p>“Sometimes,” Leo muttered, scuffing his foot on the stone floor.  Sometimes she’d been exhausted and hopeless and irritable.  But Carl had known her… before Leo, so… well the difference was obvious there.</p><p>“I… of course I’ll pay for you to finish your schooling.  And room and board, naturally.”</p><p>Leo looked up, trying to hide the pain on his face.  “I’m not –“</p><p>“Of course you need to finish your education,” Carl interrupted sternly.  “I know how hard this must be for you, but you have to be thinking of the future.”</p><p>“I am, I just –“ Leo’s voice cracked, his throat closing up.</p><p>“No, I’ll take care of the finances, but you need to be focused on your lessons,” Carl said, shaking his head.  “If you can’t do that, I’ll have to withdraw my support.  I’m not paying for you to throw your life away.”</p><p>Leo flinched as if he’d been slapped, and took a step back.  “I’m not… I’m not throwing my life away!”</p><p>“Looks like I’ll have to see that you don’t, and I don’t really have time to oversee everything you do.”</p><p>“Then maybe you shouldn’t have gone fucking around!” Leo roared, voice still trembling.  The music stilled, the other guests watched in stunned silence.  “Fuck you!”  The boy turned and stormed off, pushing past anyone who didn’t move out of his way.  He swung his cloak around himself and leapt off the edge of the little island, diving deep.</p><p> </p><p>Seven years later, the Septennial Night was in full swing with all the local selkies in attendance.  There was perhaps less artwork than the previous gathering, but just as many admiring guests dancing and talking and laughing.  Carl was more gaunt and disinterested, but he spoke with Elijah, and also with a young man with startlingly pale green eyes for his darker complexion.  Even more startling was the webbing between his fingers and the sharper fingernails.</p><p>A tall young man with messy dark hair leaned against the refreshment table.  His seal skin cloak had fallen to the ground, and he didn’t seem to have noticed.  He swallowed a mouthful of tiny whelks and grabbed a flute of champagne, tossing back half of it before he pushed off the table and headed towards Carl, weaving slightly as he crossed the floor.  Carl looked up at his approach, and recognition flooded his face followed by cold resignation.</p><p>“Leo.  What are you doing here?”</p><p>“It’s Septennial, Dad.”  Leo smirked humorlessly, finishing his drink.  “Everybody’s invited, right?  I was in the neighborhood, got nostalgic.  Figured you’d be here.”  His eyes flicked to the other two and lingered on the one he didn’t recognize.  “Is that…  That’s not…”</p><p>“Markus has been helping me, since I need more assistance lately.  Since I have no one else at home to rely on.”  Carl’s eyes narrowed, and Leo’s did too.  Markus glanced uncertainly at Elijah, whose smile didn’t waver.</p><p>“Markus, why don’t we discuss those modifications with Chloe.  She and I have been working on a more elegant breathing system for you.”</p><p>“Ah – Carl, are you all right?” Markus murmured, eyeing Leo.</p><p>“He’s fine,” Leo snapped.  “What do you think I’ll do!?  I’m his son, you dumbass!”</p><p>An odd look crossed Markus’s face, and the disgust on Carl’s was impossible to miss.</p><p>“I’ll be fine, Markus,” Carl said sternly, not looking away from Leo.  “We’ll just talk for a moment, I’m sure Leo has… places he’d rather be.”</p><p>“The fuck’s that supposed to mean?” Leo growled as Markus reluctantly left with Elijah.  “I wait seven years –“</p><p>“You’ve obviously had too much to drink, Leo.”</p><p>“I had two drinks.  You’re keeping humans as pets or something now?”</p><p>“Markus’s mother was a selkie from one of the southern nations.”</p><p>“…And you’re trying to turn him into one of us?”  He looked over – Markus wore a long brown seal skin cloak, and was laughing easily with Elijah and a petite blonde woman.  “That’s fucked up.  That’s like… real fucked up, even for you.”</p><p>“Watch your language,” Carl snapped.  “Are you high?”</p><p>“You’re just looking for an excuse to kick me out,” Leo sneered.  “Like always.”</p><p>“I won’t continue to support your drug habit,” the old man muttered.</p><p>“Can’t handle your own fuck-ups, huh?  You know this is your fault.”  He gestured broadly to himself.</p><p>“Excuse me.”  A firm hand clasped Leo’s shoulder, and he turned to find Markus frowning at him.  “You should leave.”</p><p>“Fuck off, we’re having a conversation.”</p><p>“I think it’s over now,” Markus insisted, but he lowered his voice.  “Please.  You don’t want to make a scene.”</p><p>Leo’s eye twitched.  “Oh, you don’t know a damn thing about me,” he growled, and shoved Markus hard.  A few dancers jumped out of the way.</p><p>“Leo, stop!” Carl yelled.  Elijah stood off to the side watching with his blonde companion, who looked worried.</p><p>“You think you can just act like you belong here?  Dad didn’t want me, but he’ll get his smart guy to figure out a way to turn you into the perfect son?  You’re not even real!”  Leo shoved him again, pushing him back.</p><p>“Don’t fight back, Markus,” Carl called, which Leo couldn’t quite understand, but Markus wasn’t listening to him.  He pushed at Leo hard.  Leo’s shoves had been uncoordinated, but Markus’s were strong and focused.  Leo was knocked backward and cracked his head.  There was screaming and loud footsteps, and everything went black.</p><p> </p><p>When he woke up, Leo’s head was pounding.  He gingerly touched the back and cringed at the pain.  His hair was matted with dry blood.  Everyone was gone, and the lapping of cold waves had woken him.  He blinked and squinted.  There shouldn’t be water here…</p><p>He sat up with a whimper of pain, and realized the island was returning to the sea.  It only came up once every seven years, and he’d never stayed this long before.  He groped around for his skin – it was gone.  He hadn’t had it on when he confronted his dad, he realized with mounting panic.  He’d had it when he arrived, hadn’t he?  He must have!  He staggered to his feet and started frantically searching in the shallow water.  His head felt like it was full of scratchy wool, and he was having trouble seeing clearly or forming a coherent thought.  Zlatko had been there at the beginning of the night, he could usually get Leo something to take the edge off for a good price, though he said prices were going up now and there was nothing he could do about it.  He’d meant to find the man at the end of the night, but now he was alone.</p><p>“No,” he muttered, sloshing through the rising water.  “No, no, no, c’mon, fuck, no!”  He took a deep breath and tried to go under, but came up sputtering and coughing, rubbing his eyes.</p><p>It wasn’t fair, none of this was fair.  He was Carl’s son, not that half-breed.  He’d done his best.  Sure he’d made some stupid choices, but he’d always taken care of his skin.  He’d been sorely tempted to sell it when the money ran out, and he could’ve fetched a heap of cash for it, but he’d done the right thing and held onto it.  And now he was neck-deep in sea water and his legs wouldn’t fuse, his body wouldn’t fill out, his eyes wouldn’t deepen and grow.  His teeth were short and flat, and his eyes stung from the salt.  </p><p>Leo looked around in a panic, clumsily treading water as the ground dropped out from under him.  His head hurt more and more, and waves of nausea grew stronger.  Far off to his right there was a light – a lighthouse.  Leo didn’t know the area, he only came here for his dad.  Shouldn’t have, he thought to himself vaguely as he took a deep breath and began to swim clumsily towards the light.  Shouldn’t have bothered.</p><p>His skin was gone.  Gone?  It couldn’t be gone, he’d find it again.  He’d sleep it all off and then he’d find it.  He just had to keep swimming towards the light.  Not so far… just a little… just…</p><p>Way too far, he realized as he sank beneath the waves.</p><p> </p><p>He woke again some time later, not curled safe in a cave or basking on a sunny rock, or even adrift in the wrong current again, but on a hard pallet on a floor he didn’t know.  Everything hurt, and he had no idea how he got here… which wasn’t a new situation for Leo.  He groaned and rolled on his back.</p><p>Footsteps approached.  “Figured you might not make it.”</p><p>Leo blinked up at him.  A guy maybe… maybe about ten years older than him gradually came into focus through the salt crystals on his eyelashes.  Short dark hair.  Scar across his nose.  Didn’t look too friendly.  Leo reached unconsciously for his skin, and shot upright.</p><p>“W-where… where’s my skin?” he choked out, and coughed.</p><p>“You must’ve taken some weird shit last night.”  The older man shook his head.  “You’ve still got your skin.”</p><p>“N-no, my… my seal skin, my cloak, m-my… where is it?”  His voice rose as panic set in.</p><p>“Probably at the bottom of the ocean with the rest of your clothes.”  The man shrugged.  “You were pretty messed up when I pulled you out.”</p><p>“No,” Leo moaned, hunching forward and clutching his hair.</p><p>“You’re not from around here.  Anybody I should call for you?”</p><p>Leo uncurled enough to blink up at him, dazed.  The weight of Carl’s disappointment crashed down around him again and his head dropped to his hands.</p><p>“That’s a no?”</p><p>Leo shook his head, fighting back the urge to cry or vomit or just lie down and never get up again.</p><p>“Okay, well this ain’t a hotel.  I can take you to the hospital if you want, or somewhere else in town, but you can’t stay here.”</p><p>His whole body throbbed in pain, and his heart was achingly empty, and he wasn’t sure if his vision was blurry from tears or sea water or what.  He sniffled loudly.</p><p>“C’mon, I’ve got work to do.  Want me to drop you off somewhere, or are you gonna walk out on your own?”</p><p>That sounded about right for him.  Leo twisted and slowly dragged himself to his feet.  He’d been in human form plenty of times, but right now it felt too tall, too unstable, too…  He reached down and pulled at the clothes he wore, an old pair of sweatpants that were a little short on him and a baggy long-sleeved shirt.</p><p>“Yeah, keep the clothes, I don’t want ‘em,” said the older man, making a face.  “And maybe think about laying off the booze a little.”</p><p>Tears welled up in Leo’s eyes and he hugged himself tightly, shuffling towards the door.</p><p>“Just gonna leave?  Don’t need a ride anywhere?”</p><p>The man’s rough voice had softened a little in curiosity, but Leo didn’t stop or look up.  He didn’t have anywhere to go, he’d already proven he couldn’t handle being around people.  Not anymore, not right now.  He shuffled out the door and closed it a little too hard behind him, and just barely caught the older man muttering, “Asshole,” as he stumbled aimlessly out towards town.</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“Shit, you’re messed up.”  Gavin laughed.  “You look like a drowned seal.”</p><p>Leo’s heart clenched and he gasped raggedly.  The drug seemed to go flat in his veins, and he crumpled into the water sobbing.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Getting a job wasn’t too hard, Leo found.  It was keeping one that was the problem.  He’d started off doing housework for people, which he sucked at.  Then he’d been hired to work the front desk of a hotel, and he was lucky they just fired him and didn’t press charges for all the trouble he’d caused.  Apparently yelling at guests for waking him up wasn’t okay.  For a few years he drifted from job to job, and spent his time off the clock (and sometimes on the clock) trying to forget the sting, the injustice, the pain of life on the surface and the life he’d left behind.</p><p>So now he was working at the fish cannery.  It stank, but that kind of reminded him of home, when Mom would take him out to follow the fishing boats and they’d gobble up all the heads and bones and shit, and it was terrible but they’d laugh and play hide-and-seek and find a place to bask in the sun afterwards.  They’d been in pretty bad shape for a while, even with Carl’s money.  But she’d taught him to survive, and even though it was different on land – so cold without his skin and his layer of blubber, and everything was hard and terrible – it was kind of the same.  Keep working to survive day to day, even if he didn’t know why he was trying most of the time.</p><p>When he got off the sun was going down, and he ached and stank and his head hurt.  His head always hurt these days.  It didn’t help that his boss yelled at him all the time for being slow or dropping things or not paying attention.  Or snapping at somebody or taking too long of a break or starting a fight or… he didn’t even know why sometimes.  Back home he would have swum to Zlatko’s cavern for some jellyfish – he was super creepy and definitely ran some shifty business, but he had the best prices on the good jellyfish and he wasn’t an asshole as long as Leo paid.</p><p>He’d had to do some looking, but Todd Williams from work ended up having some good stuff.  His red ice probably wasn’t high-quality, but it was cheap and he always had some to sell.  He was a little more of an asshole, but it didn’t matter.</p><p>Leo took the last bus across town to Todd’s place, and still had to walk a couple blocks.  It was a shitty house on a shitty little street.  There was a pale face in an upstairs window that quickly disappeared as he approached.</p><p>Creepy.</p><p>It took a couple knocks for Todd to answer the door, and he grumbled and told Leo to wait before slamming the door in his face.  What a jerk.  And the house looked even shittier inside, from what he could see.</p><p>There was a flicker of movement in the window, and Leo spotted a little girl peeking out at him.  His stomach twisted.  Todd never mentioned he had a daughter.  Not that they talked much, but…  Leo smiled uncomfortably and gave an awkward wave.  The girl ducked out of sight.</p><p>…Was she even his daughter?  Sure he sold drugs and was a complete asshole, but…</p><p>The door opened again and Todd offered a small plastic bag of red crystals.  Leo fumbled in his pocket for the cash, wondering if he could ask for an advance on his next paycheck so he didn’t get kicked out of the shitty room he was renting.  “Didn’t, uh… didn’t know you had a kid,” he mumbled.  He didn’t want to know, he didn’t want to get involved, but…</p><p>Todd glared back over his shoulder.  “I told you to stay the fuck out of the way!” he snarled, and there was a scrambling sound in the distance.  “God damn Alice, you never fucking listen!”  He turned his glare back to Leo and grabbed the money, shoving the bag into his hand.  “Don’t ever have kids.  More fucking trouble than they’re worth.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Leo mumbled, eyes straying into the dark house.  He didn’t see the girl, or any toys or books lying around the house.  His stomach sank further.</p><p>“Get outta here,” Todd growled, and slammed the door in his face again.</p><p>So now he was good for a few days, and he either had to walk across town in the dark or find a place to hole up nearby.  Leo looked around.  Todd was yelling at someone inside.  A dog barked in the distance.   Leo hugged himself and shoved the bag in his pocket.  He didn’t want to be here.  …Here on land, but also not here on this shitty street.  He sniffled and trudged down the road along the sea wall.  It was the long way, but he couldn’t resist the urge to be close to the water.  He took out a pinch of red ice as he walked and swallowed it.  Not as good as snorting it, but he needed to take the edge off right now.  It was a clear night and nobody was around, he could just slip right into the water and…</p><p>It was cold and filthy, with trash and oil and bits of dead fish floating all over.  Leo sputtered and slogged through the water, his movements becoming less and less coordinated as he made his way around the docks.  Finally he just slumped into an old wooden post, breathing shallowly and trembling.  He fumbled for his skin before remembering it was gone, he was stuck here, he’d drown if he sank under the disgusting water.  White-hot fury suddenly gripped him and he straightened up and punched the post with all his might.  It stood solid, though it looked like it was rotting, and his hand throbbed with pain.  He continued to beat on the post, screaming his rage into the night as tears started streaming down his face.</p><p>“The fuck are you doing, you got any idea what time it is!?” exclaimed a voice, and Leo looked up to find the same man whose floor he’d woken up on that first day standing on the dock.  Gavin Reed.  He’d tried to avoid the older man to save himself some embarrassment, but it didn’t always work out.  Leo turned back and punched the post again, then pulled back suddenly and clutched his bleeding fists to his chest.  They hurt.  They hurt a lot, actually.</p><p>“Lea’ me alone,” he slurred, hugging himself and leaning into the post again.</p><p>“Water’s gross enough without you in it.  C’mon, get out.”</p><p>“N-nuh.”</p><p>“Get a move on, I ain’t got all night.”</p><p>“Fuck you!” Leo yelled, rearing back and slamming his whole body into the post.</p><p>“Shit, you’re messed up.”  He laughed.  “You look like a drowned seal.”</p><p>Leo’s heart clenched and he gasped raggedly.  The drug seemed to go flat in his veins, and he crumpled into the water sobbing.</p><p>“Okay, come on,” Gavin muttered, sharp nails raking Leo’s neck as he crouched down to yank Leo upright again by his collar.  “Get up here.”</p><p>He didn’t try very hard, and Gavin ended up pulling him along until the water got shallower and he was able to clamber up onto the planks.  They kept moving from there.</p><p>“W-where we goin’?” Leo sniffled, shivering hard.</p><p>“Police station, this ain’t my problem.”</p><p> </p><p>Captain Fowler glared at Gavin while the sounds of retching and incoherent sobbing filled the small building.</p><p>“For an ex-detective, you stick your nose in a lot of fucking problems, Reed,” he growled.</p><p>“He was… drowning himself at the docks, what was I supposed to do!?”</p><p>“Call it in and go home, like any other citizen.”</p><p>Gavin winced.  “Yeah, well I’m here, so fuck you.”</p><p>Fowler sighed and rubbed his forehead.  “My blood pressure was finally starting to go down.  Okay, so you brought a junkie in to sleep it off in the cells.  Anything else I can do for you?”</p><p>“Yeah, second time I found him in the water,” Gavin grumbled.  “Found him out pretty deep on my way back from a trawling run a few years ago.”</p><p>“I remember.”  They both turned to look at the young man in the cells.  He was breathing hard, sprawled half on the cot, with vomit all over the floor.</p><p>“I never saw him around before that,” Gavin continued.  “Figure he fell off a boat.”</p><p>“He works at the cannery, but you know they don’t worry about paperwork.”  Fowler shrugged.  “Sounds like he’s causing minimal trouble.”</p><p>“Except I found him half-drowned twice!”</p><p>“Gavin.  He’s in the cells, I confiscated his supply of red ice.  What do you want?” Fowler demanded, turning to Gavin.</p><p>“I just – it’s weird, don’t you think?”  Gavin was wringing out his wet leather gloves, exposing the webbing between his fingers and the sharp nails.</p><p>“Plenty of other junkies out there, unfortunately.  Not much I can do unless he’s willing to share his supplier.  …And even then, assuming we get the guy, there’ll be ten more we don’t know about.”</p><p>“Wouldn’t’ve been a problem when I was on the force,” Gavin grumbled.</p><p>“Maybe not, but you decided your ego was more important.”  Fowler glared at him.</p><p>Gavin flinched and looked away, pulling his damp gloves back on.  “Yeah, well… I… listen, you know me…”</p><p>“I do.  We lost a good detective, but I stand by my decision.”</p><p>The two glared at each other.  The man in the cells moaned.</p><p>“I’ll see if I can find out who his dealer is.”  Fowler looked him right in the eye.  “We’re done.  You don’t work here anymore.  It’s over.”  He softened a little.  “You look good these days, though.  More relaxed.”</p><p>“Fuck you,” Gavin snarled, and stalked out of the station.</p><p> </p><p>Early the next morning Leo woke up on another unfamiliar floor.  It was colder than the first one, and covered in old vomit.  He retched and would have thrown up again if there was anything left in his stomach.</p><p>“Red ice doesn’t usually cause nausea,” Captain Fowler said, glowering from his desk.</p><p>“Nnnnngh, ate it,” Leo moaned.</p><p>Fowler made a face.  “Wanna tell me where you got it?  I might be able to be a little more… understanding of your situation.”</p><p>Leo rubbed his stomach, eyes squeezed shut.  “I dunno.  Just a guy, I don’t –“  He stopped, eyes flying open.  Fowler waited and eventually the younger man looked up at him.  “If… uh… if somebody… gets arrested, and… and they… they have a kid, like a little kid… what happens to the kid?”</p><p>“Other family would be contacted.”</p><p>Leo squirmed uncomfortably.  “I dunno if… what if… like, there’s no other family?  Or if you can’t find ‘em?”</p><p>“Then the child would go to a foster family or a group home until more permanent arrangements could be made.”</p><p>Leo’s face twisted in anguish.</p><p>“Something you want to tell me?”</p><p>At last Leo exhaled, shoulders slumping.  “Y-yeah, I… the… the guy who sells to me…  Todd Williams.  Works… uh, used to work at the cannery.  Lives on Harrison Street, um… he… he’s got a little girl.”</p><p>Fowler sighed heavily.  “Will you sign a witness statement and answer some more questions for me?”</p><p>“Sure, yeah, whatever.  Just let me out.”</p><p> </p><p>Three hours later Leo walked out of the station, his head pounding and his bag of red ice confiscated.  And he’d have to find a new dealer.  And that kid would probably end up without a home or family.  Maybe she’d get lucky and do better than him, though…</p><p>Not his problem, Leo told himself through the pounding headache, and trudged back to his room.  He locked himself inside and flopped down on the hard mattress.  He was already going to be late for work, might as well just not go in the condition he was in.  They’d fire him for missing his shift again.  Whatever.  He closed his eyes and remembered the sea.</p><p>It didn’t last.</p><p>He’d finally dozed off when someone pounded on the door.  Leo shot up in bed, then moaned and clutched his head.  He still felt shitty all over.</p><p>“I said I’d pay you today!” he growled.  It would probably be the last time.</p><p>“Police,” came an unfamiliar voice from the other side of the door.  “Open up.”</p><p>For the second time in less than 24 hours, Leo found himself sitting cuffed to the interrogation table for questioning.  He told them he’d gone to Todd’s house a little after 5.  Todd had been fine.  He’d seen the little girl, her name was… Elise?  Alicia?  Something like that.  Maybe somebody else upstairs, it was hard to tell.  Todd had yelled at the girl, and Leo had left with his red ice.  The house looked messy and dark.  He didn’t know anything else.  When they finally stopped asking questions, Leo glared at the officer.</p><p>“Wanna tell me what the fuck’s going on!?”</p><p>Officer Miller eyed him, then sighed.  “Todd Williams was found dead this morning when we went to investigate the allegations of drug trafficking you spoke to Captain Fowler about last night.  Shot through the head.  The girl wasn’t there.  They had a… housekeeper, she’s gone too.”</p><p>“Shit,” Leo breathed.</p><p>A door banged open, and a familiar voice came through.  “I don’t know what the fuck that dumbass was doing, I keep finding him in the water!  Fowler saw how high he was when I brought him in.”</p><p>“The captain did mention he… swallowed some red ice,” another police officer said.</p><p>“What an idiot.”  Gavin stormed up to the door of the interrogation room.  “You’re an idiot!” he called out.  Leo made a face.</p><p>“Um,” Officer Miller inserted himself between Gavin and the door.  “Could I just get a statement from you?”</p><p>“Yeah, fine.”  He walked off with Officer Miller, and Leo’s panic began climbing.  Gavin would accuse Leo of killing Todd just because Leo had been there earlier.  A former cop against a junkie, who would they believe?  Leo would be jailed or he’d be executed, he’d never swim again…</p><p>He’d never swim again anyway.  It didn’t matter.  He lowered his head to the table.</p><p>“…All right, time to go,” Officer Miller said a while later, coming back in.  Leo jerked out of a doze.</p><p>“W-what?”</p><p>“You’re free to go, but we’ll be in touch.  Keep yourself clean.”</p><p>Leo stumbled out the front door and stood in the weak sunlight.  He blinked around at the street, at people going about their lives.  Finally he stumbled down the sidewalk, thinking he’d try to go back to his room to sleep some more –</p><p>Someone grabbed him and yanked him into an alley.  He struggled, but his reflexes weren’t fast enough.  Through the haze that always filled his head, he distantly realized Gavin’s fingers were webbed, his nails long and sharp.</p><p>“Okay fucker, listen up.  The housekeeper ran off with the kid, right?  Any sign of where they went?” Gavin growled.</p><p>Leo stared at him blankly.  Gavin shook him a little, and Leo almost crumpled to the ground.</p><p>“Come on, pay attention!  Did they go to the water?”</p><p>“I… I don’t know, I… Todd was alive when I was there.  I dunno what happened after I left.”</p><p>Gavin snarled in frustration.  “I’ll bet they went out to sea.  I looked all over the docks, didn’t find a kid…  She must’ve been taken.  You know if that was your dealer’s real kid?”</p><p>“I – I don’t know, I didn’t even know he had –“</p><p>“Probably not, then,” Gavin mused.  “Bet they’re both seals.”</p><p>Leo choked and coughed.  “Wh- what… why… why do you think that?”</p><p>“I know a fucking selkie when I see one,” Gavin snarled.</p><p>Leo swallowed and coughed again.  “Y-yeah?”</p><p>“They get trapped, and then… then they just leave, first chance they get,” Gavin muttered.  “Even if it’s years later.”</p><p>Leo’s throat tightened.  “Who wouldn’t?” he mumbled.</p><p>Gavin flinched a little and clenched his fists, but the folds of webbing were obvious between his fingers.  Leo stared and reached out.  “You’re –“</p><p>“I’m not a selkie,” Gavin growled, quickly pulling his gloves on again and pushing Leo back into the wall.  “I don’t have a seal skin, I can’t just… jump into the water and leave whenever I fucking want.”</p><p>“Half-breeds can’t,” Leo mumbled, but he hazily remembered his dad’s friend talking about developing a way to let Markus turn into a seal.</p><p>Gavin’s face turned purple with rage, and he shoved Leo hard as he stormed off down the street.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“What can I do for you?” Zlatko asked, straightening up.</p><p>Gavin looked at Leo again.  The younger man was staring, teary-eyed and open-mouthed.  He turned back to Zlatko.  “A friend of mine said… said you could turn humans into selkies.”</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Got a good one for you this time.”</p><p>Gavin slouched up to the counter and North slapped a package down in front of him, not bothering to hide the webbing between her fingers.</p><p>“It’s whole, I just had to clean it up a little.  Not much damage.”</p><p>Gavin carefully unwrapped the thick wax paper and unfurled a long dark seal pelt, dappled with silver.  He stroked the soft fur and lay it over his arm, then paused to stare at it.  North had seen this enough that she’d stopped questioning it.  Finally he sighed and folded it up, not as neatly as it had been.</p><p>“I dunno, I’m thinking of just forgetting the whole thing, selling my collection.”</p><p>“Nah, you’ve got a good thing going!  Keep building it up, then sell it when you wanna retire.  You find the right collector, you’ll make thousands.  Maybe more!  Take what you can get from those fuckers, right?”  She spread her hand over the table in front of her, long fingers connected by thin webbing.</p><p>A smile flitted across his face.  “Fucking right.  …No collectors around here, though.”</p><p>“Hey, if you wanna make money in this game, you’ve got to be patient.”  North grinned.  “That’s why I haven’t made it big yet.  You want it or not?”</p><p>Gavin made a face.  “…Yeah, I’ll take it.”  He pulled out his wallet.</p><p>“Yeah you will.”  She smirked and took his payment, then wrapped the package up neatly again and handed it to him.  “Hey, there’s a guy I’ve been seeing around a lot lately down on the East Side you might want to look into.  …Watch yourself though, I’ve heard some weird shit.”</p><p>“Yeah?”  Gavin leaned in.</p><p>“Says he can turn humans into seals.  Like, make them actual selkies.  I’m pretty sure he’s a selkie himself.”</p><p>Gavin’s mouth went dry and he stared at her.  “For real?”</p><p>“I don’t know if he actually does it,” she said with a shrug, leaning back away from him.  “And to be honest, he rubs me the wrong way.  Like, he’s got the customer service persona down, but… I don’t know, I get a bad vibe from him.”</p><p>“You get a bad vibe from everybody,” Gavin scoffed.</p><p>“Gavin,” she snapped.  “Really.  Watch your back.  I don’t know about this guy, he seems like bad news.”</p><p>“Whatever, I – yeah.  I’ll be careful, don’t worry,” he assured her finally.  “So where do I find him?”</p><p>She scribbled a name on an old receipt and handed it to him.  “Down at the end of the market near the butcher shop.”</p><p>“Fucking stinks down there,” Gavin muttered, squinting at the paper.</p><p>“You’ll fit right in,” North retorted.  “Get lost.”</p><p>Gavin shoved the seal skin into his bag and headed down to the market.  The stand was actually attached to the shop.  The guy must have some kind of agreement with the butcher.</p><p>Maybe he’d finally find what he’d been looking for.</p><p> </p><p>The market was up the hill, but Leo had walked around the docks enough that he got some suspicious looks sometimes.  Today he tore himself away from the sea and went for a change of scenery.</p><p>“You hiring?” he asked at each stall.  He was met with suspicious stares.  He kept walking.</p><p>Most of them didn’t look like they’d have any red ice either.  He did get a little bottle of cheap vodka – it wasn’t the same, but it would help.  He’d started to scratch at his arms and neck, and had to make a conscious effort to stop, to try to look normal and okay, and he knew it wasn’t working.</p><p>“You hiring?” he asked again.  His voice was getting scratchy and he felt lightheaded.  He wasn’t even looking at the people anymore, they weren’t going to hire him…</p><p>“…Leo Manfred?”</p><p>His throat clenched and he swayed, grabbing the counter as his head jerked up.  A big man with a short beard stared at him in disbelief.  He was well-dressed, though the style was different than the last time Leo had seen him.  “Zlatko?” he breathed, and coughed as the name caught in his throat.</p><p>“Ah – it’s been a while.  I didn’t know you were up here.”  Zlatko glanced around.</p><p>“Y-you’re stuck here too?”  Leo leaned over the counter.  “I lost my skin, I… can’t go back, I’ve been waiting for the next Septennial, I… I can’t believe you’re here!”  He wiped the tears from his eyes, but new ones were already falling.  If Zlatko was here he’d know what to do, he could help Leo, and he’d definitely be able to get him some good jellyfish…</p><p>Zlatko shuffled back a bit farther, not quite looking at him.</p><p>“I just – I lost my job, it wasn’t my fault, I… the guy who was… he sold me red ice, it works kind of like jellyfish, but it’s stronger, he… he was shot, I’m… Do you have any jellyfish here?  Y-yours were always the best.”  He tried to smile, and knew it didn’t look good.</p><p>“No, Leo.  You know the good ones come from the abyssal plain, they’d lose all their potency if I brought them up here.”</p><p>“H-how… how… how did you… you l-l-lost your… skin too, I… I looked, I…”  He tried desperately to hold himself together.</p><p>Zlatko gripped his arm firmly.  “Get ahold of yourself.  I told you to control yourself, that it would all end in tears.  Did you listen to me?”</p><p>Leo sniffled, a quivering mess.</p><p>“No,” Zlatko said, a little gentler.  “You didn’t, and that is why you’re trapped here, my boy.  Of course I didn’t lose my skin, I’m not so irresponsible.”</p><p>“B-but…”</p><p>“Ah.”  Zlatko winked and tapped his nose, and Leo almost fell when the bigger man let go of him.  “I’m always working on something.  A friend of your father’s gave me the idea, actually.  We were working on a project together for quite some time until we had… a difference in opinion.  He simply wasn’t willing to take the idea to the next level.  I had to break off our partnership.”</p><p>Leo stared at him, trying to focus on his words and not how comfortingly familiar the sound of his voice was. “He sounds like an asshole.”</p><p>Zlatko chuckled.  “Oh, he is.  He has… a very narrow vision.”  He paused.  “Did you need something, Leo?  It’s good to catch up, but I’m a little busy at the moment.”</p><p>“Oh, uh.  Just… I…  I mean I mostly want to… uh… d’you… know any place that’s hiring right now?”</p><p>“No one’s mentioned it to me if they are.”  He looked over Leo’s shoulder.  “Now excuse me, I have a customer.”</p><p>Leo stumbled backwards as someone pushed past him and did a double-take.  Gavin.  Somehow amid the increasing disappointment, a wave of warmth washed over him and he was able to take a deeper breath.  Things felt just a little less hopeless.</p><p>“I’m not even gonna ask,” Gavin muttered, and turned away.  “You Zlatko?”</p><p>“What can I do for you?” Zlatko asked, straightening up.</p><p>Gavin looked at Leo again.  The younger man was staring, teary-eyed and open-mouthed.  He turned back to Zlatko.  “A friend of mine said… said you could turn humans into selkies.”</p><p>A strangled noise emerged from Leo’s throat and Gavin glanced back again.</p><p>“Well it’s a process I’m working on,” Zlatko said, also glancing at Leo.  “If you’d like, we can go in the back so we can talk more… privately.”</p><p>“I’m with him,” Leo said quickly, stumbling forward and standing a little too close to Gavin.</p><p>“No he’s not.”  Gavin shoved him away lightly.  But…</p><p><i>Watch your back,</i> North had said.  <i>I get a bad vibe from him.</i></p><p>North was a fucker with good instincts.</p><p>Gavin leaned on the counter.  “I’ll talk here,” he said, keeping his tone light.  “Don’t mind the idiot over there.”</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>“I’m afraid this might be a little… difficult for him to hear,” Zlatko said, holding eye contact with Gavin.</p><p>“That’s his problem, not mine.”  Gavin glanced back at Leo one more time.  “Do what you want.”</p><p>There was a weird shine to Leo’s eyes, and he nodded quickly.  …And he’d be worse than no help if anything went down, but at least maybe Zlatko would think twice before pulling any creepy shit.  North was right, there was something off about this guy.  Gavin wasn’t about to follow him into ‘the back’ and never come out.</p><p>“Fine,” Zlatko sighed, waving irritably.  “Have it your way.  You won’t like it, though.”  He pointed at Leo, then turned back to Gavin.</p><p>Leo wiped his nose, still staring at Gavin.</p><p>“So you’ve… you’ve turned people into selkies?” Gavin asked, lowering his voice a little and rubbing his hands self-consciously.  “How does it work?”</p><p>Zlatko’s eyes darted to Leo again, then smiled at Gavin.  “It’s a delicate procedure, I actually introduce selkie DNA into a human host through transgenesis.  I’ve developed a – well, it’s a complicated process.  Basically I’ve preserved the DNA of a few different selkies – all from the wild, not captive ones, only the best.  I inject copies of it into the recipient with a bonding agent, then apply a low-level laser to promote development.  It takes a few applications, but in time the selkie DNA bonds with your own and replicates, and then you’re able to change at will like a selkie.”</p><p>“More… than every Septennial?” Leo asked, his voice cracking.</p><p>Zlatko waved him away, scoffing.  “I use DNA from female selkies, they have more freedom.  Of course that means the risks are greater as well, you really have to keep track of your skin, but it’s worth the risk.”</p><p>Gavin stared at him.  He looked back at Leo, who was still watching him.   “Wh-what’s it take?” he asked, voice gone dry.  “How much is it?”</p><p>“Oh, we can discuss a price if you decide it’s what you want,” Zlatko said with a warm chuckle. “I think you’ll find I’m very reasonable.  Isn’t that right, Leo?”</p><p>A faint memory was tugging at Leo’s mind.  Dad’s friend had been talking to him, to Markus, he’d said something…</p><p>“…It’s just half-breeds,” he suddenly spoke up as Zlatko was about to say something.  “Right?  I thought…”</p><p>“That was Elijah’s limited vision, but I see no need –“</p><p>“Elijah!?” Gavin cut in, reaching across the counter to grab Zlatko’s arm.  “A selkie?  A year older than me – ah… he’d be 38 now?  Um… shit… face kinda like mine but thinner?”</p><p>Zlatko was staring at him with growing trepidation.  “…Who are you?”</p><p>“I know him!” Leo insisted.  “He’s like best friends with my dad, I know him, I see him all the time.  Saw him.  Before.  Talked to him a bunch.  It – it’d be easy to turn me back, right?” he asked, turning to Zlatko.  “Even without my skin?  Could you do that?”</p><p>“That’s a different matter entirely,” Zlatko rumbled, his eyes never leaving Gavin’s.  “Well?  What do you say?”  he offered a big hand.</p><p>Gavin looked at him, then down at his hand.  There were callouses in unusual places.  “I’m… let me think about it,” he said slowly.</p><p>“All right… but don’t take too long.  I’m not sure when I’ll decide to move on.”</p><p>“Yeah.  A day or two.”</p><p>Zlatko shrugged.  “Up to you.  I might be here, I might not.”</p><p>Gavin hesitated, then turned and walked away.</p><p>“Please, I… Zlatko, I have to go back,” Leo mumbled, trying hard not to cry.  “My dad will pay you… anything you want.  I swear.  Please just… just help me.”</p><p>Zlatko’s warm eyes had hardened and he chuckled slowly, reaching out to pat Leo’s trembling hand.  “Oh Leo… your father wouldn’t lift a finger for you.”</p><p>Leo choked, shuddering hard.  Zlatko leaned forward and smiled.</p><p>“You’re no good to me, either.  Get out of my sight.”</p><p> </p><p>Zlatko wouldn’t help him.  His father wouldn’t help him.  There wasn’t a single person in the world who gave a damn about him and didn’t have anything anywhere near strong enough to dull the pain.  He stumbled down the road swigging the little bottle of vodka, knocking into people as he went, tears and snot streaming down his face.  When someone grabbed him and yanked him to the side, he went limp and fell into a wall.</p><p>“Figured you’d head for the docks, you’re so damn predictable,” Gavin grumbled.  “Shit man, get ahold of yourself.”</p><p>He struggled to breathe, to focus on Gavin.  That warm pull from before was back – he didn’t understand it, there was no reason for it, but he let out a ragged sob and reached up.</p><p>“Get up.  I saw you walking just fine,” Gavin muttered, stepping back a little.  “You said – shut up, stop crying.  You said you knew… Elijah.”</p><p>Leo inhaled with a loud sniffle.  He opened his mouth, then crumpled in on himself, hugging himself tightly and crying.</p><p>“You’re… one of them, aren’t you.  You’re a selkie.  You’re stuck here.”</p><p>Leo could barely register his words, he was so full of hopeless grief.</p><p>“That’s what – shit, you said that the morning after I pulled you out of the water and I… I didn’t…”  Gavin shook his head.  “Fuck.  …Are you fucking done!?  I said get up!”</p><p>“Why?” Leo managed to choke out.  “I’m… I lost my skin, nobody gives a shit about me, I’m just… just gonna… die right here, and nobody…”</p><p>“God, you’re dramatic,” Gavin muttered.  “Fine.  I’m going home.  You wanna stay here and cry your eyes out, that’s on you.”</p><p>“N-no… no, please!  Don’t… don’t leave…”  Leo flailed and grasped frantically after Gavin’s footsteps, but it was too late. Sobbing and gasping, he struggled to sit up.  It took him a few tries before he managed to get to his feet, leaning heavily on the brick wall.  Hunched over, he pulled himself out of the alley into the too-bright sunlight.</p><p>“About damn time,” Gavin said, pushing off the wall where he’d been leaning.  “Let’s get a move on.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“I can stay?” Leo asked.  His head was fuzzy from sleep and he was still a little hungover, and he wasn’t sure…</p><p>“Guess you’ll have to so I can keep an eye on you,” Gavin muttered.  He paused.  “Just… don’t go poking into my shit.”</p><p>“Okay!  No, I mean… I won’t!  You’re the best, I won’t let you down.”</p><p>Gavin gave him a critical look.  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he muttered, and walked away.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Leo didn’t remember falling asleep.  He didn’t remember most of the walk – stagger – back to Gavin’s place.  But when he woke he was sprawled on the couch with a blanket thrown over him.  He shut his eyes again and just breathed.  It didn’t stink like his little room, but it wasn’t perfectly clean either.  There were scents of wood, of burnt toast and coffee, of soap and sweat.  There were seagulls calling in the distance.  That warm feeling from before hadn’t abandoned him, and Leo snuggled deeper into the blanket.  For once, land didn’t seem so bad.</p><p>“You know how long you’ve been sleeping?”</p><p>Leo jumped, then squeezed his eyes shut.  “Nngh.  Not long enough.”</p><p>“Sixteen fucking hours.  I mean, god damn.  Get all that shit outta your system yet?”</p><p>Leo finally dragged himself upright, blinking blearily.  “…Sixteen hours?” he repeated, voice scratchy.</p><p>Gavin strolled over and offered him a cup of coffee.  “Drink.”</p><p>Leo stared at the mug.  It was handmade, thick clay with a silver dappled glaze.  He sniffled.</p><p>“No, don’t start that shit again.  C’mon, can’t cry and drink at the same time, dipshit.”  Gavin pressed the mug into his hands and made sure he was holding it before letting go.  Leo shakily brought it to his lips and took a small sip, then coughed.</p><p>“Gross.”</p><p>“What, you want sugar?  Milk?  Fucking caramel macchiato creamer?  Get up and make it yourself, shit’s on the table.”</p><p>Leo looked around, then slowly stood up.  Gavin followed him to the kitchen and watched him stir in everything that would fit.</p><p>“Might as well not have any coffee in there.”</p><p>“It’s gross,” Leo mumbled again, sipping his more tolerable drink.</p><p>“Tough shit.  We need to talk.”</p><p>Leo looked up at him with mournful eyes.  “About what?”</p><p>“Fuck – about the weather!  No, dumbass, about how you’re a selkie and you know Elijah!”</p><p>“You know him too?”</p><p>“He’s my fucking brother!  …Half-brother.  Our mom – nevermind.  Yeah, I know him.  He’s… making people selkies now?”</p><p>“I… okay, so I don’t know him that well.  I saw him a couple times at… at the Septennial Ball, the big seven-year party.  He was talking to my dad.  He’s got this half-breed who Dad really likes, and I heard him talking about making him a full selkie.”</p><p>Gavin stared at him.  “…Well fuck.  He was always fiddling with weird shit.  What’s he look like?”</p><p>“Um.  Skinny, long dark hair, about as tall as you I guess…  Got this smirk like… like he knows a secret and won’t tell you…”</p><p>“Fuck,” Gavin breathed, shaking his head.  “…What about our mom?”</p><p>“I dunno, I only saw him a couple times, didn’t really talk to him.”</p><p>“You’re such a fucking liar,” Gavin muttered.  “Saying you knew him.”</p><p>“No, but… but I… he’s friends with my dad, so…”</p><p>“Oh really?  You can just call up your dad and ask him to introduce us, then.”</p><p>“Uh… I mean… I know where to find them on the next Septennial… if Dad’s still alive, but…”</p><p>“If his luck’s anything like yours, he won’t be.”</p><p>“It’s not,” Leo snapped.  “He’s got all the luck in the fucking world, he’s just old.  There’ll probably be a big funeral – a ‘celebration of life’ or some shit like that – and I won’t even be invited.”</p><p>“To your dad’s funeral?”</p><p>“…He always hated my guts.  He paid my mom so he wouldn’t have to see me.”</p><p>“Oh.”  Gavin stared at Leo.  “Still doesn’t want anything to do with you?”</p><p>Leo made a face.  “I’m the family disappointment… without being part of the family.  He’s practically adopted the half-breed your brother brought him.”</p><p>Gavin frowned.  “…What, he just went out and grabbed a random half-breed?  I wasn’t… good enough?”</p><p>“Looks like it.  Markus is from one of the southern tribes, I hear.  That’s all I know.  …And he’s probably good at everything.”</p><p>“Okay, shut the fuck up,” Gavin muttered.  “God what a prick.”</p><p>“I… I could still bring you, I just – I know where they’ll be.  Next year.  I just need… I lost my skin, I… I was always real careful, but…”</p><p>“There’s red ice down there too?” Gavin sneered.</p><p>Leo shook his head mournfully.  “Jellyfish.  Zlatko had the best…”  He paused, then sniffled.  “…And now I’m gonna die up here and… and I guess I didn’t have a lot to go back to, but I hate it here.”</p><p>“Ain’t much here either.”  Gavin gnawed on his lip thoughtfully, watching Leo.  “A year, you said?”</p><p>Leo nodded.</p><p>“Okay, well you’re gonna have to pull yourself together.  I’ve got a boat, if you can navigate.  We’re gonna crash this big seal party.”</p><p>Leo’s lip trembled and he looked up with watery eyes.  “Y-yeah?”</p><p>“Yeah, and I’m gonna need you sharp, so quit wasting your fucking money buying shit that’ll kill you.”</p><p>“Oh, that’s – I’ve only got a few dollars left, so…”</p><p>Gavin rolled his eyes.  “Of fucking course you do.”  He inhaled deeply.  “Okay.  Guess you can sleep on the couch until I get sick of that – already halfway there, honestly.  Hope you like – shit, of course you like fish, you’re a fucking selkie.”</p><p>“I can stay?” Leo asked.  His head was fuzzy from sleep and he was still a little hungover, and he wasn’t sure…</p><p>“Guess you’ll have to so I can keep an eye on you,” Gavin muttered.  He paused.  “Just… don’t go poking into my shit.”</p><p>“Okay!  No, I mean… I won’t!  You’re the best, I won’t let you down.”</p><p>Gavin gave him a critical look.  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he muttered, and walked away.</p><p> </p><p>When he’d first moved away from home, Gavin had liked the idea of getting a puppy.  He’d tolerated the constant whining and crying, the smell of piss, everything chewed up, for a couple weeks before he finally admitted defeat and pawned it off on the next poor sap who fell for a pair of big sad eyes and a scruffy mop of hair.</p><p>Not much difference between Leo and a puppy, except thankfully less piss and chewing.</p><p>Gavin had gone out fishing and come home to find Leo dead drunk.  So he cursed and rolled him on his side before bringing what was left of his alcohol to Tina for safekeeping.</p><p>“Don’t ask,” he growled.</p><p>She looked him up and down.  “…Okay.  But there’s a tax for storage here.”</p><p>“…Yeah, whatever, have some,” he muttered, and she grinned at him.</p><p>The next day when he got back there was a charred, smoking mess in the oven and Leo was trying frantically to scrape it off the rack.</p><p>“I was trying – I wanted… t-to make dinner, to… to earn my keep.”</p><p>“Don’t – just don’t fucking touch anything!” Gavin snarled.  Leo flinched.</p><p>The following day he got home to find Leo pacing around the house, scratching bloody tracks down his arms.</p><p>“I’m not – I didn’t… didn’t do anything,” Leo stammered.  “I d-didn’t touch anything, I swear.”</p><p>“You’re a fucking disaster,” Gavin muttered, going to hang up his coat.</p><p>“I-if you… I just need… I need… just a little bit, red ice, just the… the cheap stuff, I can pay you back later I swear.”</p><p>“No you can’t.”  He paused.  “C’mon, I’m going out and I’m not leaving you to… chew the legs off the table or something.  And grab a fucking coat from the closet.”</p><p>Leo followed him up to the market, stumbling in a daze.</p><p>“You eat anything today?”</p><p>“I didn’t touch anything,” Leo moaned.</p><p>“You’re such a mess…”  Gavin stopped and bought a few meat pies, then passed one to Leo.  “Get something in your stomach at least.  Unless you’re just gonna throw it up.”</p><p>Leo devoured the pie loudly and enthusiastically, then paused to gasp for breath.</p><p>“Eat if you’re fucking hungry, dumbass!”  Gavin shoved another one into his trembling hands and started eating one for himself, heading down to the east end of the market.</p><p>“Mmph, isssso goo,” Leo mumbled around a mouthful of bread and meat.</p><p>Gavin hoped his puppy from years ago had done better with its new owner.  It occurred to him that he wasn’t equipped to handle something so helpless.</p><p>Despite Zlatko’s claims that he might be gone, his little shop was still there next to the butcher shop.  He came out from behind a heavy curtain when Gavin banged on the counter and smiled.</p><p>“Well well, I was just about to start packing up!  I thought you might be back, though.”</p><p>“I wanna know more about this… selkie procedure of yours.”  Gavin leaned over the counter and took another bite of his pie, a few flaky bits falling.</p><p>“Young Mr. Manfred couldn’t get you what you needed?” Zlatko asked, his friendly smile darkening to a smirk.  “With all his connections?”</p><p>“I’m here to talk to you, and he’s got jack-shit to do with it, so leave him out of it,” Gavin snarled.  “You gonna talk, or did I come all this way for nothing?”</p><p>Leo sniffled a little in the background, but Gavin and Zlatko didn’t break eye contact.</p><p>“All right.”  Zlatko chuckled softly.  “Let’s talk then, man to man.  This procedure is delicate and difficult, and no one does it with the finesse I’ve developed.  I recently lost my assistant – good help is hard to come by these days, don’t you think?”</p><p>“Keep talking.  Get to the price.”</p><p>“Of course.  You’re a man who doesn’t have time for… frivolities, I can appreciate that.  Now… this is only an estimate, of course.  There are a number of variables that can affect it.”  He scribbled down a number on a pad of paper and turned it around, pushing it across the counter for Gavin to see.</p><p>“Fuck, do I look like I’m made of money!?”</p><p>Zlatko shrugged.  “The good thing about becoming a selkie is that the currency system is different.  Spend every cent of your human money, because it’s no good to you below.”</p><p>“Yeah?  How much does Elijah charge for the same damn thing?”</p><p>An ugly look crossed Zlatko’s face, a little faster than he was able to cover it up.  “He upcharges everything.  I’ll tell you honestly that you’d be lucky if he charged you twice what I’m asking!  How do you…”  Zlatko narrowed his eyes.  “You’re his brother, aren’t you?  Or cousin?  No, half-brother I’d say.  That’s more common than you realize.”</p><p>“He’s nothing to me,” Gavin snapped.</p><p>“Oh, I don’t believe that,” Zlatko chuckled.  “Did you try to go with him, when he went to sea?  Did he leave you behind?”</p><p>“Shut the fuck up.”</p><p>“I’ll tell you about him.  He cares for no one but himself, and he’s obsessed – half-crazed, even – with his incredibly narrow vision for the future.”</p><p>“You keep saying that, what’s so much better about your vision?”</p><p>Zlatko grinned.  “A selkie would prefer to be a mer?  Simple.  A half-breed wants to be a selkie?  Easy!  A human wants to be a mix of… let’s say ursa and lupine?  Nothing is impossible.”</p><p>“Please, I just… I just wanna go home,” Leo whimpered, edging up to the counter.</p><p>“I said the men were talking,” Zlatko growled, raising his hand.  Leo cringed back, but Gavin’s hand darted out to grab the big man’s arm tightly.  He leaned in.</p><p>“This is your warning.  Try to touch him again and I’ll bring the whole police department down on your ass.  I know they’d love to hear about your sketchy fucking ‘vision.’  …And if you think you could take me, try it, fucker.”  He let go and spread his arms.  “Well?  No?  Yeah, I thought not.  Get out of town.  If you’re still here by morning, you’ll get a personal tour of the cells.”</p><p>Zlatko held up his hands in surrender.  “You won’t see me again, in that case.  I should have known Elijah’s brother would be cut from the same cloth.”</p><p>“I’m nothing like that asshole,” Gavin snarled.</p><p>“Thinking you’re all high and mighty while you make threats to my well-being?  You’re exactly like him.”  He smirked.  “Goodbye.”</p><p>“Yeah fuck off, asshole.”  Gavin turned to find Leo staring at him with tear-filled eyes.  “Get a move on,” he snapped, stalking back out to the street.</p><p>“Would you really… arrest him if he touched me?” Leo asked shakily.</p><p>“Not a fucking cop anymore, I can’t arrest anybody,” Gavin mumbled.</p><p>“But you said –“</p><p>“He’s up to some shifty business here, I’m gonna call it in anyway.”</p><p>Leo watched while Gavin called the hotline and argued with the officer on duty.  “Thanks,” he mumbled when the other hung up.</p><p>“Tomorrow you’re coming with me, you’re gonna show me where to find the selkies.”</p><p>“I – they won’t be there, it’s one night every seven years…”</p><p>“Yeah, I know, I just need to know where.”</p><p>Leo hesitated.  “You’re not gonna… hunt them, are you?”</p><p>Gavin made a face.  “You’re such a dumbass.  I just need to find Elijah.  I’ll probably punch him in the face, but that’s personal.”</p><p>“I wasn’t gonna say no if you did,” Leo muttered.  “None of ‘em ever did anything for me.”</p><p>“Do you… know a lot of them?”</p><p>“Do you know a lot of humans?”</p><p>“Yeah, actually.”  Gavin glared at him.  “I – do you know… she’d be… an older woman.  She was on land for about… eight years, I think.  Name’s Katrin.  Uh… you know her?”</p><p>Leo shook his head.  “We – I traveled around a lot with my mom.  Didn’t meet a lot of others until… she died.  I dunno.  Who was she?”</p><p>Gavin winced a little at the past tense.  “Nobody,” he snapped.  “Don’t worry about it.  Be ready to get up early tomorrow.”</p><p>“Your mom, right?”</p><p>“If you don’t know her, it’s none of your business,” Gavin growled.</p><p>Leo’s eyes narrowed.  “Fine, be a jerk about it.”</p><p>Gavin stopped walking and jabbed out his elbow so it knocked into Leo when he didn’t stop.  “I will, and you can shut your mouth for once in your life.  We’ll leave at four in the morning.”</p><p>Leo stared at him.  “…You’re kidding.”</p><p>“Wanna bet?”  Gavin grinned nastily.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“So why do you need me?”</p><p>Gavin narrowed his eyes in a calculating stare.  “I don’t.  Don’t ever kid yourself into thinking I need you.  But if you pull your weight you can stick around.  …I wanna know more about selkies before the time comes, anyway.”</p><p>“I – I can tell you!” Leo said immediately.  “I can tell you anything you want to know!  I won’t be any trouble, I swear.”</p><p>“Yeah” Gavin sneered, not believing a word of it.  “Prove it.”</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Get up.”</p><p>“Nngh.”</p><p>“Get up.”</p><p>“Noooooo…”</p><p>“Get the fuck up, you’re not staying in the house to fucking tear shit apart.”</p><p>Leo hauled himself upright.  “…time is it?”</p><p>“4:30, I let you sleep in.  Get your shoes, let’s go.”</p><p>They eventually made it down to the docks, and Leo dozed in the corner of the little fishing sloop while Gavin got the motor started and guided them out of the harbor.</p><p>“Okay, which way?”</p><p>“Uh… north.  Northeast.”  Leo yawned widely and huddled in the big sweater he’d borrowed.</p><p>Gavin rolled his eyes and headed northeast.  A little more north, because he’d found Leo out that way, that first early morning.  He probably hadn’t been able to swim much, but the current would have carried him…</p><p>“A… a little more… that way, maybe,” Leo mumbled, pointing east.  He was swaying and pale.</p><p>Gavin corrected the course and turned to look at him.  “If you’re gonna puke, get it over the side.  I’m not cleaning it up.”</p><p>“Mmmph…”  Leo rubbed his stomach.</p><p>“Are you… shit, you’re not seasick, are you?  Are you really a selkie?”</p><p>“We don’t ride around on crappy little boats!”</p><p>“It’s not that crappy, it gets the job done!”</p><p>“Do you even catch anything?”</p><p>“Yeah, actually!  I make a decent living!  …Enough to feed your scrawny ass, so maybe shut your hole!”</p><p>The two bickered off and on while Gavin cast the nets and set a few lines, until Leo finally looked around in the dim gray of predawn.</p><p>“This is it.  Right here.”</p><p>Gavin looked around.  “What, just a piece of water?  No markers or anything?”</p><p>Leo shook his head.  “The island rises every seven years, and sinks after like… half a day.”</p><p>“So it’s down at the bottom now?  Do you guys… hang out down there?”  He peered over the side.</p><p>“…I dunno, maybe.  Mom and I traveled around a lot, I never came here until she died.”</p><p>“Huh.”  He opened the bait bucket and tossed a dead squid into the water.  They both watched it slowly sink into the depths.</p><p>“…You close with your mom?” Gavin asked after a while, still staring into the water.</p><p>“Yeah.  Yeah, real close.  She… she was the only one who ever gave a damn about me.  I… miss her,” Leo confessed quietly.</p><p>Gavin bit his lip.  He hadn’t really meant to start a heart to heart, he was just making conversation.  “…That’s how it was with my mom.  She left when I was eight, though, so… I dunno.  I was too little to really know what she was like, I guess.  She’s probably dead now.”</p><p>“She might be alive,” Leo said.  “Most of us… take care of our elders, so…”</p><p>“…Yeah, Elijah would take care of her.  If she’s alive,” Gavin murmured.  “You didn’t see her, though.  At your big shindig.”</p><p>“Nah, but I was pretty high,” Leo offered comfortingly.  “Even when I’m not, I don’t always see shit.”</p><p>Gavin laughed briefly.  “…You’re a fucking mess.  Anybody ever tell you that?”</p><p>“Just about everybody.”</p><p>“…I mean, you’re still alive, though,” Gavin said, softening a little.</p><p>“I’ve got some dumb luck.”  Leo muttered.</p><p>“Either way.”  Gavin shrugged.  “…Guess you don’t know how to… make somebody a selkie?” he asked, barely above a whisper.</p><p>Leo shook his head.  “Sorry.”</p><p>“But – just a year, right?  We can come back here and find Elijah, and make him do it.”</p><p>“You… think he will?”</p><p>“I’ll fucking punch him if he doesn’t.”</p><p>“I mean… I mean for me.  I lost my skin, I… that’s different.”</p><p>Gavin looked over at Leo, hunched over the rail, and thought about his collection of seal skins locked up at home.  “Seems like it’d be easier.  You can ask.”</p><p>“He won’t help me…”</p><p>“Then he gets punched in the face.”</p><p>“Really?”  Leo glanced over, biting his lip hard.</p><p>“Any excuse to punch that fucker.”  Gavin smirked and looked away, cracking his knuckles.  “C’mon, help me haul the nets in.”</p><p>Leo was very little help, but it was a task Gavin usually managed alone so he got everything back onboard with the boat’s winch.</p><p>“Okay, now grab that rope there.”</p><p>“What rope?”</p><p>“Right in front of you!  Yeah, pull it this way.”</p><p>“I – it’s not moving!”</p><p>“Because you’ve gotta pull, dumbass!”</p><p>“I’m pulling as hard as I can!”</p><p>“Wow, you have no upper body strength.”</p><p>“I – I never needed it!”</p><p>“Obviously!  Don’t let that slip overboard!”</p><p>Leo scrambled and grabbed a big fish that had slipped out.  “What do I do with it?”</p><p>“Don’t just stand there holding it like an idiot, shove it back in!”</p><p>“Wh- how?  It’ll just come back out!”</p><p>“Gimme that,” Gavin growled, snatching the fish and pushing it back in.  It curved into the net and stayed.</p><p>“Are we done?” Leo muttered, hugging himself.</p><p>“Sun’s barely up, we’ve got the whole day ahead of us,” Gavin sneered.  “Get comfortable.”</p><p> </p><p>Leo didn’t get comfortable.  He threw up a couple times, getting most of it over the side.  He complained for most of the day, and either refused to help or caused more harm than good when he tried.  The best part of the day was when he fell asleep, and Gavin got a few blissful hours of quiet.</p><p>Not long enough, though.</p><p>“Aaaaaauuuurrrrrrggghhhh, am I still in this fucking boat?” Leo moaned, rolling onto his back.</p><p>“Yeah, I was gonna push you over the side, but you’re too damn greasy.  Couldn’t get a hold on you.”</p><p>“Shut up,” Leo muttered.</p><p>“Are you done puking yet?”</p><p>“Uh.  Maybe.  Don’t think there’s anything left.”</p><p>Gavin nodded and handed him a water bottle.  “Take – no, wait a goddamn second!  Take just a sip.  Slow.  Or you’re not gonna keep it down.  Little sips, and take a deep breath between ‘em.”</p><p>Leo struggled to follow directions, and when he’d drunk about half the bottle Gavin took it away and handed him a squashed peanut butter sandwich.</p><p>“Eat that slow, too.  Unless you wanna throw it up again.  And listen up.  You’re damn worthless on a boat, and you’re a menace in the house.”</p><p>“I tried to help!” Leo protested.</p><p>“Yeah, almost burned the house down.  So you’ve got two choices.  You can start pulling your own weight around here, or you can fuck off for the rest of the year and figure shit out on your own.  …Or I guess you could just fuck off, period.  Three choices.”</p><p>Leo stared at him, face reddening.  “I – it’s not my fault I’m… I’m worthless!  I’m sick, I –“</p><p>“Hungover and in withdrawal,” Gavin supplied.  Leo reddened even more.</p><p>“…Okay, yeah!  Makes it fucking hard to concentrate!” he snapped, staggering to his feet.  “But I don’t know where shit is in your house.  Why do they even sell food in cardboard if you can’t put it in the oven like that?  I’ve never been on a boat in my life, I don’t know what… what ropes to pull or whatever shit you do!  I guess I’ll just fuck off and be worthless somewhere else, ‘cause I don’t know shit about how to help with anything, never did!  I know how to hunt and hide, and I’m not great at that either.  So… so yeah, take me back to shore and I’ll… I guess I’ll just fuck off and die!” Leo was screaming now, standing over Gavin.</p><p>Gavin took a bite of his own sandwich and chewed it while Leo breathed heavily.  “…You done?”</p><p>“You’re a fucking asshole!”  Leo lunged and shoved him.  Gavin stepped aside at just the right moment and grabbed his arm, tripping him so he fell face-first at the deck, but Gavin held him up just before he hit it.</p><p>“Done now?”</p><p>Leo thrashed and kicked and struggled, but Gavin’s grip was like iron and he showed no sign of tiring.  At last Leo went limp, panting, and Gavin lowered him slowly to the deck.</p><p>“Done?”</p><p>Leo nodded, gasping for breath.</p><p>“Good.”  Gavin sat down in front of him.  “One, you’re the biggest dumbass I’ve ever met.  Don’t ever try shit like that again.  Two, if you pay attention and put a little effort into it I’ll show you want you need to know, moron.”</p><p>Leo stared at him for a long time.  “…But you know how to get there now.  I – I’m sure Elijah’ll be there.”</p><p>“He’d better be.”</p><p>“So why do you need me?”</p><p>Gavin narrowed his eyes in a calculating stare.  “I don’t.  Don’t ever kid yourself into thinking I need you.  But if you pull your weight you can stick around.  …I wanna know more about selkies before the time comes, anyway.”</p><p>“I – I can tell you!” Leo said immediately.  “I can tell you anything you want to know!  I won’t be any trouble, I swear.”</p><p>“Yeah” Gavin sneered, not believing a word of it.  “Prove it.”</p><p> </p><p>He could’ve just kicked Leo out.  Maybe he should have.  The selkie was a disaster of a person and all-around annoying.  His mom and Elijah hadn’t been anything like this.  Clearly this wasn’t a selkie thing, it was a Leo thing.  It took him weeks to figure out the trawling process and how the boat operated, and he had a terrible memory.  But he was company.  Not always great company, but… better than Gavin was, and he still stuck around.  North stopped showing up at the market, and a few other people disappeared as well.  And Leo was always around.  And they were both kind of used to each other by now.</p><p>“No fear of you takin’ my job,” Gavin muttered after they’d sold their catch one day.  “You’re shit at this.”</p><p>“I’m fucking trying, you just can’t teach!”</p><p>“Never said I could, dipshit!  I said I’d show you and you’d have to pick up what you could!”</p><p>“Right, because it’s my job to do everything!  I can’t do anything right, and it’s always my fault!” Leo raged, face red and fists clenched.</p><p>“Cool it, edge-lord,” Gavin said, rolling his eyes.  “I never said that.”</p><p>Leo clenched his teeth, then suddenly took a half-step back.  “’s what Dad always said,” he muttered sullenly.</p><p>“Yeah, well fuck him.”</p><p>Leo’s eyes widened a little and his shoulders relaxed just a bit.  “…I mean yeah, but…”</p><p>“But what?”</p><p>“I… I mean… he’s super successful and important, and everybody loves him…”</p><p>“He a king or something?  Are you like a prince?  That would explain why you never learned any useful shit.”</p><p>“No, just – he’s this really famous artist, probably the best in the northern hemisphere.”</p><p>“I never heard of him,” Gavin said with a shrug.</p><p>Leo stared at him.</p><p>“He didn’t even raise you, he just fucked your mom.”</p><p>“Yeah, but… I mean, he always sent money, and…”</p><p>“And?  Who gives a fuck?  He knocked your mom up and got on with his life, you did fine without him for… how many years?”</p><p>“Sixteen…”</p><p>“Yeah, and then everything went to shit, right?”</p><p>Leo gulped and nodded.</p><p>“So fuck, who cares?  He ain’t shit and you did better without him.”</p><p>Leo was standing taller now.  “I… I guess you’re right…”</p><p>Gavin shoved him lightly.  “So forget that shit-head and grow the fuck up.”</p><p>Leo winced and pushed him back.  “Shut up…”</p><p>“Hey, and what about that Zlatko creep?  You like… hung out with him back home?”</p><p>“Yeah, he’s… I… Um, well… he sold me some really good jellyfish, like my whole body went numb from the mouth down for an hour or so.”</p><p>“He’s a creep, and you’re fucking weird.”</p><p>“He was always nice before,” Leo mumbled.</p><p>“…Because he’s a dealer.  And into some real sketchy shit, from what he was telling me.  You were his customer, of course he was nice to you.”</p><p>Leo bit his lip and scowled.</p><p>“You got other friends back home?”</p><p>“What kind of question is that!?  I’m not a loser, I’ve got… I’ve got plenty of friends.”  His face slowly fell from righteous annoyance to glum despondency.</p><p>“Sounds like they’re all fuckers down there.” Gavin scoffed.</p><p>Leo shrugged.</p><p>“Just like up here, then.”</p><p>“I hate it here.”</p><p>“Yeah, sounds so much worse than down there.”</p><p>Leo sniffled.  “…I fucking hate it there too.  Mom died, Dad replaced me with a half-breed, I… I hate it everywhere.”</p><p>Gavin elbowed him, not unkindly.  “Life’s a bitch.”</p><p>When they got home they finished off a container of chicken salad for dinner and watched TV for a while.</p><p>“Hey, uh… I know everything’s shit, but… is it worse up here?”</p><p>Leo made a face.  “I dunno.  Some of each, I guess.  It’s not as bad as it was at first.  It’s just… kinda hard to walk before I get warmed up for the day, a lot of times.  And it’s fucking cold up here.  And just… I feel like I’m gonna fall over all the time, I’m too tall and there’s no water… I always feel naked… I get real itchy, or when it gets bad everything burns.  My own damn fault, I guess.  I can’t keep track of my own skin…  I deserve every shitty thing in my life.”</p><p>“…You don’t bitch much about it hurting anymore.”  Mom had never complained, not that he’d ever heard.  And his dad would have said something if she’d complained to him.  But come to think of it she often limped, didn’t move much… and she’d gotten so thin at the end…</p><p>“Yeah, it wasn’t doing any good, and you’re fucking sick of me already,” Leo muttered.</p><p>A frown grew on Gavin’s face.  He stood up suddenly.  “Hey.  C’mere for a second.”</p><p>Leo watched him walk to his bedroom, and slowly stood up.  He stopped in the doorway.  Gavin had opened his big closet and was fiddling with something on the wall.  As Leo stepped closer, Gavin opened up the whole back wall of the closet to reveal a smaller room behind it.  It was lined with shelves, and there were dozens of neatly folded seal skins on them.  Brown and black and gray and spotted, shining softly in the light of a bare bulb.  Leo stopped dead, his eyes growing.</p><p>Gavin stepped back.  “Um.  So I kind of… I’ve been collecting these for… years, um… just… I mean, obviously none of ‘em worked for me or I’d be… down there now.  But… but you should see if… any fit you.”</p><p>“Did you… do you hunt selkies?” Leo asked, his mouth dry.  “Do you lure them in and steal their skins!?”</p><p>“No!  No, I’ve got a friend who does a lot of salvage, she finds ‘em and sells ‘em to me.”</p><p>“And you just… keep them?”</p><p>“I don’t know who’s a selkie, they don’t just come knocking at my door!”</p><p>“…They would, if they were nearby,” Leo murmured, his eyes distant and growing large and brown.  “They’d feel it.  They’d know.  …That’s why I needed to stay with you that day.  That’s why it always feels so safe here.”</p><p>“I… I didn’t know about that,” Gavin mumbled.  “I figured… I mean, I knew you lost your skin, so… I figured it might be one of mine…”</p><p>Leo stepped forward slowly.  He paused to look at Gavin, who wouldn’t meet his eyes.  Then he continued to the back of the closet.  He snatched the newest skin from the bottom left corner and hurried out.  He stared at Gavin for a long moment.</p><p>“…You’re not gonna stop me?  Take it back?”</p><p>Gavin shrugged listlessly.  “It’s yours.  You hate it here, it’s not… it’s not your world. I… I get it, I… should’ve shown you before.  Go on.  I know where to go when the time comes, I don’t need you.”</p><p>Leo blinked, edging backwards.</p><p>Gavin looked up at last with a faint, tight smile.  “…Hey, watch yourself.  You – you’re not so bad.  Hope you… do okay down there.”</p><p>Leo paused to stare at him, his expression shifting through a wild range of emotions.  Then he mouthed, “Thank you,” before turning and fleeing.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Maybe he’d go find his dad and tell him to fuck off.  Not like he had anybody else down here.</p><p>Maybe he could find his own jellyfish.  They were down deep.  Dad’s place was on a plateau back the way he’d come…  He wavered in the water.</p><p>…He’d need some extra courage if he was going to face Dad.  He headed down towards the abyss.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Leo ran down to the docks, skin clutched to his chest.  He knocked into people and streetlights and posts on the way but he just had to get to the water.  As his feet pounded down the weathered boards of the pier he unfurled his skin, holding onto it tightly.  There weren’t many people around anymore and the sun was almost down, but he didn’t care who saw.  At the end of the pier he flung his skin around himself and leapt.</p><p>It would have been just his luck if it didn’t work, but the skin clung to him.  His legs began to fuse, and a thick layer of fat grew between the skin and muscle as he swam through the water with increasingly powerful pumps of his tail.</p><p>Finally home, finally free.</p><p>How long had Gavin had his skin?</p><p>The day they ran into each other at Zlatko’s, he realized.  That warm feeling he got, he’d felt his skin.  Gavin must’ve had it with him.  Maybe he got it that day, because his house hadn’t felt like home to Leo until then.</p><p>It still kinda felt like home, actually…  Probably just because he’d been there for a few months.</p><p>Leo floated blissfully out to sea, past the usual fishing grounds, past the site of the Septennial celebration…  He didn’t hurt anymore, he felt… right.  He closed his eyes and turned in a gentle spiral, aimlessly floating deeper into the dark sea.  He wasn’t even sure where he was, or where he was going.  No goals, no destination.  Just like before.</p><p>He dozed in the current for a while… he hadn’t really swum in years, and he felt like he hadn’t slept in just as long even though he usually fell asleep before Gavin and always woke up after him.  And neither of them was great at cooking, but Gavin could make some things that tasted okay.  And his house was nice and warm…</p><p>…And he’d kept Leo’s skin from him.  For like, half a year.</p><p>…And he’d given it back.  And he’d showed Leo how to live on land, and on a boat, even if he hadn’t been very good at it.</p><p>Leo blew a stream of bubbles out of his nose and slowly drifted upwards.  Gavin Reed was a fucker.</p><p>…He’d been okay, though.  Pretty cool, actually.  </p><p>Maybe he’d go find his dad and tell him to fuck off.  Not like he had anybody else down here.</p><p>Maybe he could find his own jellyfish.  They were down deep.  Dad’s place was on a plateau back the way he’d come…  He wavered in the water.</p><p>…He’d need some extra courage if he was going to face Dad.  He headed down towards the abyss.</p><p> </p><p>Gavin woke up early the next day so he could – no, he didn’t have to wake Leo up.  He could probably sleep for at least another 30 minutes…</p><p>He lay there for ten seconds before getting up.</p><p>The docks were silent when he went out, with no one trailing behind him complaining, bumping into things…  And the boat went out smoothly, he didn’t have to worry about Leo steering them into other boats or piers.  Or whales, at least once.  The only sound was the lap of water against the posts and boats.  Peace at last.  Nobody talking constantly.</p><p>Nobody to talk to.</p><p>“You wanna go out to…”</p><p>“Hey, there’s a – oh.”</p><p>“Shit, you see that…”</p><p>“Hey fucker, you asleep again?  …Oh right.”</p><p>Gavin returned at the end of the day in a foul mood.  Fuck Leo and fuck everybody else.  Maybe he should go see if Fowler was busy…</p><p> </p><p>Leo didn’t actually know where to find jellyfish, as it turned out.  He’d hoped they’d just be floating around, but all he found was some nasty-looking deep-sea monsters.  Things with teeth too big for their faces, things that glowed where there was no light, things with transparent skin so he could see their hearts beating and food moving in their stomachs…</p><p>Gross.</p><p>So he ate what he could catch, and very rarely got any jellyfish.  And they were never as good as Zlatko’s.  It was a few months before he approached another selkie.  He’d seen some.  He’d thought about it.  He’d even tried once or twice, but he didn’t know anybody anymore.  Definitely not anybody who would be good company.  The small gathering of seals on the plateau just above the abyss was weird, though.  Not quite right somehow.</p><p>The seal speaking reminded him of someone.  Actually, he sounded almost exactly like Markus but not as quiet and polite.  Maybe Markus had an older selkie brother.  A taller, more confident older brother.</p><p>“…We have opened our eyes.  We are no longer functionally humans, we swim with you now.  And the time has come for you to accept who we are.  Therefore we ask you to grant us the rights we are entitled to…”</p><p>Leo stared from the rocky outcropping.  He didn’t recognize any of the other selkies in the crowd… but they all looked a little different.  Their fur wasn’t slick and dark, it was pale and fluffed, like it would be if it was dry.  They didn’t quite have the blubber layer a healthy seal would.  And there was an odd blue line going down each of their backs.</p><p>“Together, we can live in peace and build a better future for selkies and half-breeds.  This message is the  hope of a people.  You gave us life.  Now is the time to share the sea with us.”</p><p>There was cheering, and realization washed over Leo.  They were all half-breeds.  Somebody – Zlatko or Elijah, probably – had figured out how to turn them into seals.</p><p>Gavin would want to know.</p><p>There was a series of sharp clicks and every seal looked up.  Dark shapes were coming towards them from a distance, and the crowd scattered.  Markus and a few others swam off together, but one of them kept falling behind.  He wasn’t swimming right, Leo could see.  They paused under a rocky ledge near Leo, and the selkie hunched down to avoid being seen.</p><p>“We have to kill him, they’ll find him!” hissed one of the other half-selkies.  She sounded familiar…</p><p>“We can’t do that, he’s one of us!” argued another.</p><p>“They’ll be on us soon, you have to make a decision!”</p><p>Leo tried to peek out without being seen, but he couldn’t tell what was happening.</p><p>“Simon, we’ve gotta go.  I’m sorry.  …Let’s go!”</p><p>Three half-selkies darted away, and Leo heard a pained gasp not far from him.</p><p>After a moment the water churned with activity.</p><p>“The broadcast came from right here, search the area,” called a selkie from below.  </p><p>Leo steeled himself and floated up a bit, flipping his tail to propel himself down the slope and a little to the left.  “Don’t move,” he muttered.</p><p>A head shot out – it was too pale to be a regular selkie, and his eyes were wide with panic and pain.  He quickly disappeared back into the rocks.  Leo stretched out and closed his eyes.</p><p>“Hey – how long have you been here?”</p><p>Leo cracked his eyes open and squinted at the selkies glaring down at him.  “I dunno.  Couple hours?”</p><p>“Did you see anyone else around here?  Half-breeds or selkies?”</p><p>“Nn – uh… there was an octopus when I got here.  Real asshole.  I was just looking for jellyfish – you didn’t… see any, did you?”</p><p>“He didn’t see anything, come on,” the leader said dismissively.</p><p>Leo continued to lie on the rocks while the selkies finished their patrol and headed back down to where a small crowd had gathered.  “There’s a whole swarm of ‘em down there, don’t go anywhere,” he muttered.</p><p>There was a painful laugh from under him.  “I… can barely swim anyway.”</p><p>“For real though, you see any jellyfish around here?”</p><p>“Sorry.”</p><p>“…No problem.  I probably – no, I mean… I shouldn’t be lookin’ for that shit, but…”  He shrugged listlessly.</p><p>The blonde watched him warily.  “…I’m Simon.”</p><p>“Leo.  Hey, uh… that guy who was talking, that… was that Markus?”</p><p>“You know him?”</p><p>“Kinda.  Not really.  We met a couple times.  He wouldn’t remember me, maybe don’t mention my name.  Uh.  You real close to him?”</p><p>Simon shifted uncomfortably.  “I’ve… only known him for a few days, actually.”</p><p>“Know a lot about him?”</p><p>“None of us really talk a lot about our pasts,” Simon muttered.</p><p>“…Well shit, no wonder he just left you here to die,” Leo muttered.</p><p>“That was… completely unnecessary,” Simon muttered.</p><p>“Okay, but…”  Leo looked down at him and shrugged.  “Hey they’re clearing out down there, you wanna get out of here?”</p><p>“I told you I can’t swim well.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’ve got fuck-all to do, I’ll get you where you need to go.  Beats anything else I had goin’ on.”</p><p>“So… you’re a… full selkie,” Simon commented slowly as Leo swam alongside him.</p><p>“Yeah.  You’re a… uh… a half-breed.”</p><p>Simon bobbed assent.</p><p>“Didn’t know you guys could… go all seal like that.”</p><p>Simon looked over at him.  “Where have you been for the past six years?”</p><p>“On land.”</p><p>“Oh.  Um.  Well.  I guess you don’t know about the whole… kidnapping and trafficking thing going on.”</p><p>Leo stared at him.</p><p>“Half-breeds were being… hunted.  There are a lot of us down here now.”</p><p>“…Seriously?  I mean it’s pretty cool, but why?”</p><p>Simon stared.</p><p>“Oh, I mean it’s cool that you can turn into a seal.  Not… not all the being hunted and shit.  Uh.  I know… knew… I know a half-breed, he was pretty cool.  Didn’t see anybody trying to hunt him, though.  Just – well, Zlatko –“</p><p>Simon froze, falling through the water for a moment.</p><p>“Oh, you know him?  I used to see him a lot, he’s got the best jellyfish, but he can like… just switch between seal and human whenever he wants now, I guess.  He told Gavin – my friend – he could turn him into a selkie, but it was gonna be real expensive so Gavin told him to fuck off and called the cops on him.”  He snickered.</p><p>“He’s… he’s committed… terrible atrocities,” Simon breathed.</p><p>“…Yeah, he’s kinda a creep now.  Maybe he was before.”  Leo shrugged.  “You okay?”</p><p>“Fine…” Simon said slowly, and resumed awkwardly swimming.</p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t like he was alone now that Leo was gone.  North hadn’t been around in a while.  Months.  …That was fine, she’d always done what she wanted anyway.  Whatever.  Tina was still around.  And Fowler.  And… plenty of people.  Chris was still here, right?  Probably…</p><p>“Hey, you ever catch that… housekeeper and the kid from last year?  Shot that drug dealer and ran?”</p><p>“Nope.  You learn anything from that junkie?”  Fowler asked.</p><p>“Nah.  He’s… he moved on.”</p><p>Fowler raised an eyebrow.  “…You let him?  After dragging him down here, then waiting for him outside?”</p><p>Gavin shrugged.  “Yeah, I dunno.  Not my problem, right?”</p><p>“How’s the catch been?”</p><p>“Okay.  …You got any detective openings?”</p><p>“’Fraid not, Gavin.”  Fowler leaned in, frowning.  “Are you okay?”</p><p>Gavin made a face.  “Fine.  What do you think?”</p><p>“I don’t know.”  Fowler stepped back to look at him.  “I think you’re a bad liar, though.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well fuck,” Leo muttered.  He and Simon looked down at the remains of a shipwreck.</p><p>“It… I’ve been staying there for a year,” Simon breathed.</p><p>“Not anymore.  …I mean… they might’ve got out.  Anywhere else they’d go?”</p><p>Simon shook himself.  “…I know a lot of other places.  You don’t have to keep looking after me though, I’m swimming better now.  I know you have things to do.”</p><p>Leo’s nose wrinkled.  “Yeah, it’s either stick with you or go get in another fight with my dad, and that’s gonna happen one of these days anyway, might as well not be today.”</p><p>“I appreciate it,” Simon confessed quietly.  “I… would rather not be alone when I can’t move as quickly.”</p><p>“Right?  Can’t trust anybody, they’re all assholes,” Leo muttered.  “C’mon.”</p><p>It took a few days, but they eventually found Markus and the others hiding out in a grotto near the surface.  Leo hung back as Simon swam down.  He watched Markus freeze, then swim up to press close against him.  Simon had said there was nothing going on between them, that they were just friends, but he wondered…</p><p>When they pulled apart, he floated slowly towards them.  When Markus spotted him he darted in front of Simon, narrowing his eyes.</p><p>“It’s okay, he’s a friend,” Simon said quickly, nudging Markus aside.  “He helped me get here.”</p><p>“Yeah, after you left him to die,” Leo said.  “Hey Markus.  Been a while.”  This wasn’t how he’d wanted to start things, he had promised himself not to be a complete ass, but… here he was.  …And to be fair, Markus <i>had</i> left Simon to die.</p><p>Markus stared.  “…Leo?” he asked in disbelief.</p><p>“Thought I was dead, huh?”</p><p>“I – well no one’s seen you since the last Septennial…”</p><p>“Yeah, know why?  Because somebody fucking stole my skin and sold it!” he growled.</p><p>Markus looked him up and down.</p><p>“I – I got it back!”  Leo forced his jaw to loosen, his shoulders to relax.  “Heard you guys can turn seal now, so you’re tryin’ to make halfs equal with selkies.”</p><p>Markus straightened up.  “I am.”</p><p>“…My dad still around?”</p><p>Markus faltered.  “He’s… I visited him last night.  He’s not doing well.”</p><p>“So you run off to start a revolution?  Shit, didn’t Elijah drag you down here to take care of him!?”</p><p>“He’s receiving the best care,” Markus snapped.  “You never lifted a finger for him, I don’t see why you’re so concerned now.”</p><p>“I tried!” Leo snarled, darting forward and baring his teeth.  “I tried to talk to him, I tried to get to know him, and he wasn’t fucking interested.  Way before your time.  He didn’t give a fuck about me, or anything I liked, or… anything.  He just threw money at my mom, then he threw money at me so he wouldn’t have to see me.  Felt guilty because it was his fault I was fucking born!”</p><p>Markus and Simon retreated a bit.</p><p>“Fuck!  No wonder Dad loves you, you’re such a tool!”  Leo whirled around and started swimming away.  He wasn’t going to hunt down his dad after this encounter, maybe he could find someone who could get him some jellyfish…</p><p>“He talked about you,” Markus spoke up.  “Often.  He – he always hoped you’d… recover and that you could –“</p><p>“Yeah, I… You know what?”  Leo turned back to him.  “I don’t give a fuck what he said.  He didn’t want me, he didn’t care, he just… I mean, even before I was a complete fuck-up, he never gave me a chance.  …Then some fucker drags you down here, and you’re… the son he never had.  He didn’t want me, he didn’t even care enough to… try to turn me into what he wanted.  So you can… fuck off with him, I can’t… I’m done.”</p><p>“Leo, I –“</p><p>“I don’t wanna hear it.  I brought your friend back, don’t… don’t abandon people like that, it’s shitty.”  He glared tiredly.  “You know where Elijah is, the fucker who gave you to Dad?  Is he here?”</p><p>“N-no, I… I haven’t seen him since I left.  He doesn’t go out in public anymore, I hear.”</p><p>“What a pretentious freak, he’d better not go out in public, nobody wants to see him,” Leo growled.</p><p>“You… know him?”</p><p>“Nope.  …Hey, you know how he makes half-breeds into selkies?  Like, what he does for that?”</p><p>“No,” Markus said, and Simon shook his head as well.</p><p>“Figures.  Okay well, good luck with your revolution or whatever.”  He paused, exhaling a little of his vitriol.  “Really.  I dunno what kinda shit’s been going down around here, but… I hope you fix it.”</p><p>“I hope so too,” Markus said quietly.  “I – it’s good to see you, Leo.”</p><p>Leo shrugged and waved a flipper as he swam away.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“…They tried,” Gavin mumbled, wiping his face.  “Mom really tried, she cut pieces off her skin for us.  Eli’s worked.  He’s a real selkie, I’m… just this.”  He flexed a hand, the claws and webbing hidden beneath the leather glove.  Leo nosed at his fingertips.</p><p>“Yeah, well let’s see what’s left,” Gavin muttered, heading down to the house.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was the day before the Septennial, and Gavin was vibrating with nervous energy.  He’d been trying not to do all his fishing around the site every day, but he still went a couple times a week.</p><p>Leo was probably living the good life as a seal right about now.  …Or more likely, he was high on jellyfish yelling about his dad to a rock he thought was a whale.  What a dumbass.  The house was so fucking quiet now, Gavin couldn’t hear himself think.  Or maybe that’s all he could hear.  Either way it wasn’t good.  He cast out a line and leaned back to wait for a nibble.</p><p>Almost an hour passed with no bite when the boat rocked slightly.  Gavin looked around to find a seal watching him from a few meters away.  Its eyes were huge and dark, and it looked a little on the thin side.  Gavin stared at it.  It stared at him.</p><p>“…Leo?” he asked after a minute, barely above a whisper, as if he’d make a fool of himself in front of the seal.</p><p>It barked loudly and swam up close to the boat, almost within arm’s reach.  Gavin hesitated, then stretched out his hand as far as he could.</p><p>The seal stretched out to nose at his hand before bobbing forward with its big round head under his hand.  A crooked smile split his face, and Gavin leaned down a little more.</p><p>“Didn’t think I’d ever see you again.  You loving the seal life now?”</p><p>Leo snorted, and salty mist covered Gavin’s face.  He wiped it off.</p><p>“Gross.  You, uh… doing okay, though?”</p><p>Leo bobbed under his hand, and he rubbed the short fur.  Leo’s eyes closed and he smiled.</p><p>“Shit’s about the same up here.  Uh… really fucking quiet, it’s… weird, I don’t like it.  You tell your dad he’s a fucker?”</p><p>Leo sank a little in the water and blew some bubbles out of his nose.</p><p>“…Probably better to just stay away from him, honestly,” Gavin muttered.  “How about Elijah, you see him down there?”</p><p>Leo snorted again, aiming away from Gavin this time, and rolled his large eyes.</p><p>“That asshole, I’ll punch his teeth out.  …Tomorrow.  Right?  You’ll be there?”</p><p>Leo bobbed in assent, and Gavin smiled, relaxing muscles he hadn’t realized were so tense.</p><p>“Good.  It’s – yeah.  Good.”</p><p>Leo barked suddenly and raised a flipper, slapping the side of the boat.</p><p>“Bet you don’t miss this, huh?”  Gavin smiled wryly.</p><p>Leo gazed up at him for a long moment, then swam closer and nosed at the boat, rocking it a bit.</p><p>“I swear to god, if you tip me over I’ll hunt you down and skin you myself.”  Gavin glared at him.</p><p>Leo huffed and turned on his back, still looking up at Gavin.  The glare gradually melted away, and Gavin reached out to scratch his belly.  Leo’s eyes closed again and he sighed contentedly.</p><p>“You look better as a seal,” Gavin murmured after a moment.</p><p>Leo splashed him and he rocked back, sputtering.</p><p>“C’mon, asshole!”  He laughed roughly and bent to splash Leo, who barked sharply and whirled to splash him with his tail.  They went back and forth splashing and laughing and barking for a while until Leo grabbed Gavin’s sleeve in his teeth and yanked him in.</p><p>Gavin flailed and thrashed, coughing up the water he’d inhaled and treading water.  “What the fuck!?”  He dragged his outstretched arm quickly across the surface, sending a wave of water into Leo’s face.  The seal sputtered and ducked under the surface.  Leo pushed at his sides a couple times before getting under him and nudging him upwards so he could climb back into the boat.</p><p>“Well now I’m cold and wet, thanks,” Gavin growled.</p><p>Leo slapped the boat with his flipper, the gestured sharply at Gavin, barking a couple times.</p><p>“I wouldn’t’ve been splashing if you hadn’t been an ass!”</p><p>Leo honked and tipped his head back.</p><p>“Whatever,” Gavin scoffed, wringing out his hair.  “You owe me new clothes.  And it’s gonna just… chafe for the rest of the day.”</p><p>Leo sank slowly into the water.</p><p>“…Hey, where’re you going?”  Gavin shuffled over to lean over the side.  “Come back!”</p><p>The seal popped up again, stretching up towards Gavin, who scratched his ear.  Leo purred as he leaned into it.</p><p>“Guess you can’t come back to my place,” Gavin sighed softly.  He glanced back at the boat.  “I mean… I mean you could, but it’d be a pain in the ass.”</p><p>Leo looked back towards land, then up at Gavin again.</p><p>“You don’t wanna go there anyway,” Gavin scoffed quietly.  “It fucking sucked, right?  Still does.  …More, now.”  He sighed and rested his chin on the rail.  “Wasn’t so damn quiet when you were there.”</p><p>They stared at each other, then Gavin looked off to the north.</p><p>“…I know a place, actually.  Um.  Come if you want.”</p><p> </p><p>He hadn’t been on the little beach in over twenty years, but he still remembered how to navigate through the rocks.  The little dock was rotting and falling apart, so he steered the boat right up on the sand and hopped out in the shallows.  A moment later a seal squirmed up beside him.</p><p>“Dad always yelled at us for playing by the water,” he muttered.  “Mom didn’t come here much…  I guess it hurt, because she couldn’t go home.  You know how it is.”</p><p>Leo was looking around, sniffing the air.</p><p>“Haven’t been here in ages.  Everything’s probably gone.”  He started walking up the path, slowing his pace so Leo could keep up.  “It used to be a little town, but by the time I left we’d weathered a few bad storms and most of the younger people had left.  My dad stayed a couple more years, then I heard the house was empty.  Maybe he left, maybe he died.  I hated that fucker so much…  Hated my mom and fucking Eli for leaving me, too.”</p><p>He paused at the top of the ridge.  Most of the buildings on the other side had fallen to ruin, but the house he’d grown up in was still standing.  Leo caught up with him and wiped his wet face on Gavin’s leg.</p><p>“…They tried,” he mumbled, wiping his own face.  “Mom really tried, she cut pieces off her skin for us.  Eli’s worked.  He’s a real selkie, I’m… just this.”  He flexed a hand, the claws and webbing hidden beneath the leather glove.  Leo nosed at his fingertips.</p><p>“Yeah, well let’s see what’s left,” Gavin muttered, heading down to the house.</p><p>The barn was just a pile of splintery gray wood.  The house was sturdier and while the roof had fallen in, the first floor was in decent shape.  Gavin looked around.  “Mom used to sit there,” he mumbled, pointing to the fragile-looking chair by the window.  “Or she’d be in the kitchen, or in bed.  Or sitting outside, but she never went to the beach until… until the end.”</p><p>Leo lumbered over and leaned into his leg.</p><p>Gavin looked around.  There was a lifetime of other memories here, but nothing that seemed important.  Finally he sat down right on the dusty floor.  Leo watched him.</p><p>“She hated it here,” he murmured, looking at the chair.  “She was fucking miserable.  She… she loved us, though.  Me and Eli.”  He swallowed thickly.  “…But she still left me.”</p><p>Leo undulated closer, resting his head lightly on Gavin’s knee.</p><p>“Don’t matter now, I’m a grown-ass man, I don’t need…”  He paused to rub his eyes.  “I fucking needed her then,” he finally sighed, lying back.  “I know it’s not…  I mean… even best-case scenario, I can’t go back to being eight and getting her back like before.  And I know it’s dumb, but… that’s all I ever wanted.  To just… be in the water, to just be a seal.  More than I wanted to be a detective or… anything else.  I knew it was impossible, but I never did know when to quit.”  He smiled lopsidedly.</p><p>Leo scooted up and barked softly.  Gavin laughed.</p><p>“You’re a lot quieter as a seal.”</p><p>Leo barked and pushed his cold nose into Gavin’s ear, making him pull away.</p><p>“Fuck off!”</p><p>Leo barked again and flattened himself on the floor.  Gavin sighed and relaxed next to him.</p><p>“My dad hid my mom’s skin from her for… nine years,” he murmured.  “I found it in the barn and gave it to her.  Dad was… I was always scared of him, but he was ten times worse after she left.  And it was just me and him – at least it wasn’t Eli.  He really hated Eli.  I was his, and Eli wasn’t.”</p><p>Leo rolled over to press against Gavin’s side with a soft grunt.</p><p>“I couldn’t wait to get off this rock,” he mumbled.  “It was hard for a while – nah, it never stopped being hard.  Still is.  And I made a lot of dumb decisions.  Better than being here, though.”</p><p>Leo nosed at him.</p><p>“I mean everybody’s gone now, so it’s… just a place.”  He paused, staring up at the cracked ceiling.  “…You think I’ll be able to turn into a seal tomorrow?” he asked in almost a whisper.</p><p>Leo slapped him with a flipper and barked.</p><p>“Hope you’re right,” Gavin muttered, scratching at Leo’s side absentmindedly.  “Think I’d make a good seal…?”</p><p>Leo squirmed up and lay his head on Gavin’s chest, snuffling at him.  Gavin slowly wrapped an arm halfway around him and scratched at his neck folds.</p><p>“Hope so…”</p><p> </p><p>Later in the day Leo swam out and brought back a few fish, and Gavin made a fire and grilled one while Leo ate the others.</p><p>“You ever get sick of fish?”</p><p>Leo barked a few times, slapping the ground each time.</p><p>“…I don’t know what you’re saying.”</p><p>Leo barked louder.</p><p>“Yeah, that doesn’t help, dumbass!  …I mean I like fish, but… I want something different sometimes.”  He sighed.  “Who knows if it’s even gonna matter.”</p><p>Leo pawed at him and made a rumbling sound in his throat.</p><p>“I’ve had shitty luck all my life,” Gavin mumbled, putting out the fire.  “Why should that be any different now?”</p><p> </p><p>They’d fallen asleep sprawled on the dusty floor together, Leo tucked into Gavin’s side under a couple old blankets.  When Gavin woke up he was warmer than he expected and his back ached.  And there was something draped over him.  …A hand.  A hand he knew.  He shifted onto his back and there was Leo, human and loosely curled around him, snoring lightly.</p><p>Gavin’s first instinct was to freeze, then to push Leo away.  The selkie rolled on his back and mumbled something incoherent, but didn’t wake up.</p><p>It was so different than the first time Gavin had seen Leo sleeping.  Half-drowned, sallow-faced with irregular breathing, sunken bloodshot eyes when he finally opened them, shaking a little…  His face had filled out so he looked healthier now, and his breaths came evenly.  He looked relaxed, and slowly Gavin followed suit, just lying there watching him.</p><p>He’d throw everything away for a real chance to be a selkie, although deep in his heart he knew it wouldn’t happen.  But he’d never get a better chance than this, and if he was going to let his lifelong dream die… he had to be sure.</p><p>Even if… when… he had to admit defeat, it wasn’t a complete loss.  It had been a good few months.  Leo was a mess even when he wasn’t high out of his mind, but he tried.  And he was damn annoying but he was funny sometimes.  He never shut up.  Ever.</p><p>And he slept like a rock, so he didn’t notice when Gavin scooted a little closer and rested his head on Leo’s shoulder.  He smelled like fish and was still pretty bony, so Gavin moved over after a minute to press into his side.  It was kind of nice, just lying there listening to the morning cries of the sea birds, the distant waves, and Leo’s breathing that was beginning to lighten.  Better enjoy the quiet while it lasted.  It wasn’t as empty as it had been for the past few months.</p><p> </p><p>When Leo finally stirred and opened his eyes, the sun was high.  He blinked blearily and looked around.  The room was empty, and his heart sank.</p><p>Footsteps approached, and he turned to see Gavin standing in the doorway.  Smiles spread across both their faces, and Leo scrambled to his feet as Gavin closed the distance to shove his shoulder.</p><p>“You just sleep all day now?  What the fuck?” Gavin asked, grinning widely.</p><p>“Didn’t think you could look any more like a dumpster fire,” Leo replied, pushing his hand away but not putting much effort into it.</p><p>Gavin opened his mouth for a snappy comeback, then closed it again.  “…You look good, actually,” he muttered, turning aside.  “Uh.  I was thinking this morning.  And, uh… yeah.  Being a seal’s good for you.”</p><p>Leo shrugged and nodded.  “I… well not always.  Before, I… felt like shit no matter what shape I was in.  Um.  That was you.”</p><p>“…What?”</p><p>“I mean now I – when… when I was… staying with you I… was doing better,” Leo muttered, looking at a stain on the floor.</p><p>“Looks like you kept it up,” Gavin mumbled.</p><p>Leo shrugged again.  “Getting jellyfish on my own is harder than I thought.” </p><p> “Either way, it’s working.  You hungry?”</p><p>“You got any eggs?”  Leo perked up.  “I’ve been dreaming about your scrambled eggs, they’re fluffy as shit.”</p><p>“We’re on an abandoned island, where am I gonna get eggs, dumbass!?  Unless you can go rob a seagull nest, you’re getting fish.”</p><p>Leo looked out the window.  “...Yeah?”</p><p>“You’re gonna get your eyes pecked out.”</p><p> </p><p>He didn’t, but by the time he got back covered in cuts and bruises Gavin had cooked up a pan full of winkles and limpets he’d gathered on the beach.  They sat a little closer, held eye contact a little longer, and lingered in the sunlight that filtered through the dirty window, leaning in and laughing at stupid things.  Leo told Gavin what was happening with the half-breeds, below.</p><p>“Hey, uh… listen, I don’t know if Elijah’s gonna be there tonight.  Um.  He was the last two times, but… I guess he hides out and doesn’t see anybody anymore, but…”</p><p>“That fucker… you know anywhere else he might be?”</p><p>“No idea.  Hiding out in a cave alone, from the sound of it.  Somewhere in the ocean.”</p><p>“I’ll get a scuba suit and hunt him down if I have to,” Gavin growled, pulling at a loose thread on his shirt.</p><p>“I’ll help,” Leo muttered shyly.</p><p>Gavin looked up, hope and guardedness flitting over his face.  “…You don’t have to.  Not your problem.”</p><p>Leo made a face.  “Fine.  Asshole.”</p><p>“I didn’t – I mean… It’s nothing to do with you, why would you want to?”</p><p>Leo glanced at him, then back down.  “I dunno,” he muttered.</p><p>Gavin frowned hard at him.</p><p>“What, you want me to?” Leo scoffed.</p><p>“I… y’know what?  Yeah, actually,” Gavin growled, looking over Leo’s shoulder.  He didn’t feel like going back and forth about it for hours.  “You got anything better to do?”</p><p>Leo looked up with a startled expression that quickly turned into a dazed smile.  “No.  …I mean yeah, I – I mean… okay.  Sure.  If you want.”</p><p>“Just said I do,” Gavin muttered, shaking his head.  “Don’t commit too soon, though.  If I’m… human and you’re a seal, I’m gonna be a hell of a lot slower than you.  I won’t be able to go everywhere, it’s gonna suck hard, I –“</p><p>Leo reached out and grabbed his arm.  “Man, shut your hole.  Things fucking suck even when I’m a seal, but if you’re around that’s like… a win-win.”</p><p>There hadn’t been many moments in Gavin Reed’s life where he felt like everything just clicked together, but right at that moment it all suddenly did.  “…Yeah.  Win-win.”</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“Um,” Leo said after a few minutes.  “If… if things go wrong, I’ll stick around.  If that’s okay with you.”  His eyes darted over to Gavin, who had turned to stare at him.  “I mean I don’t have to, but… I don’t have anything better to do, and things are pretty shitty without you, and –“</p><p>Gavin suddenly leaned over and closed the gap with a hard, sloppy, rushed kiss on the left side of Leo’s mouth.  It shut him up, and when Gavin pulled away the selkie was staring at him wide-eyed.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So, uh… when… what time… do things get started out there?” Gavin asked haltingly after a while.</p><p>“Oh, um… a little before sunset.  They probably start setting up as soon as the island rises.  I dunno, I always come in late.”</p><p>“Typical.”  Gavin smirked crookedly at him.  Leo’s smile grew warmer in response.  “It’ll take… about an hour to get there from here.  We should get going.”</p><p>They headed down to the shore and set out to sea.  The ocean was a little choppy, and Leo slumped against the rail holding his stomach.</p><p>“Bet you wish you could just turn back into a seal now,” Gavin said with a grin.</p><p>“It’d be way more convenient,” the selkie muttered.  “I’m good here though, just… gotta get used to it again.  Bet you wish you could turn into a seal and swim off though, don’t you.”</p><p>Gavin made a face.  “…You know I do.”</p><p>“Yeah, well give it a couple hours!”</p><p>Gavin frowned, correcting their course slightly.  “…Yeah, well.  When it doesn’t work, I’ll… I guess I’ll just go back to fishing.  It’s all I’ve got.”</p><p>“…Hey, we’ll find Elijah either way,” Leo said, shaking his head.  “It’s just gonna take some time.”</p><p>“Mm.”  Gavin shrugged noncommittally.  “Maybe.”</p><p>“Seriously, there’s loads of half-breeds down there now.  He knows how to change you.”</p><p>“Then he won’t do it,” Gavin muttered, staring off at the horizon.   “Or it won’t work on me for some reason.  I dunno.”</p><p>Leo edged closer and nudged Gavin with a bony elbow.  “Hey.  What’s your problem?  It’ll work, we’ll make it work.  We’re real close now.”</p><p>“The closest I’ve ever been.  If it doesn’t work –“</p><p>“It will, shut up,” Leo interrupted.  “You’re being dumb, it’s worked on loads of other half-breeds.  Just… you know, wait until after it’s done to punch your brother.”</p><p>Gavin exhaled loudly and rubbed his face.  “Yeah.  Yeah, I guess so.”</p><p>He didn’t believe it, but they kept going.</p><p>“Um,” Leo said after a few minutes.  “If… if things go wrong, I’ll stick around.  If that’s okay with you.”  His eyes darted over to Gavin, who had turned to stare at him.  “I mean I don’t have to, but… I don’t have anything better to do, and things are pretty shitty without you, and –“</p><p>Gavin suddenly leaned over and closed the gap with a hard, sloppy, rushed kiss on the left side of Leo’s mouth.  It shut him up, and when Gavin pulled away the selkie was staring at him wide-eyed.</p><p>Fuck.</p><p>“I, uh –“  How could he explain that!?  He wasn’t even thinking, it had just happened!</p><p>“R-really?” Leo asked breathlessly.  “You… I mean… yeah?”</p><p>Not that it had never crossed his mind, with that stupid-cute face so close for so long, but –</p><p>“I… I just…”  It was hard to form a coherent thought, and he couldn’t flee in the middle of the ocean, and he could feel his face practically glowing red…</p><p>Leo lurched forward and gave him a sloppy kiss just on the corner of the mouth before pulling back quickly.  “M-me too!”  His ears were flushed and he was so tense Gavin could feel it even when they weren’t touching.</p><p>They stared at each other for a moment, then Gavin looked down and laughed, shaking his head.  “You fucking… suck at kissing, was that your first time or something?”</p><p>“I – n-no I don’t!” Leo protested.  “I just – I didn’t know – I’ve kissed plenty of people!”</p><p>Gavin leaned in for a more coordinated kiss on the cheek.  “Your mom doesn’t count, dumbass.”</p><p>“Well… well you suck at it too!”  A wild grin was slowly growing on Leo’s face.</p><p>“Guess we’ll have to practice, then…”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They didn’t have long to practice, because lights were gathering in the distance.</p><p>“Ghost lights,” Gavin murmured, one hand in Leo’s salt-crusted hair.  “That’s the party?”</p><p>Leo nodded.  “Yeah.  It’s probably just starting.”</p><p>“So are there gonna be a lot of boats around?”</p><p>“Pretty soon, yeah.”</p><p>Gavin looked around, and there were a few small boats visible in the distance.  “…Okay.  Might as well crash the party once it gets going, no reason to sit around on that rock longer than we have to, right?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Leo muttered  “My dad’ll be there already.”</p><p>“We’ll get to him,” Gavin promised.</p><p>“Well Elijah’s been right next to him the last two times, so we can probably knock out both at once.”</p><p>Gavin grinned.  “I like that idea.”</p><p>The two circled around and dropped anchor to the east, just within sight of the island.  They fished and talked and kissed some more as the sun went down.  More boats were visible now, and some went straight for the island but others held back.</p><p>“We’re gonna have trouble when we get there,” Gavin muttered.</p><p>“Nah, they’re cool, nobody ever gave me any shit for coming, and I was… pretty awful.”</p><p>“No, but I’m not a selkie.  And you said there’s trouble with half-breeds right now, they’re not gonna want one crashing their party.”  He paused.  “…Actually, if I was planning a big… societal upheaval or whatever… I’d do it tonight.”</p><p>“You think…?”</p><p>“…I think we both might see our brothers tonight, if we’re lucky.”</p><p>Leo’s face went blank for an instant, then he frowned.  “I never thought of him as my brother,” he muttered.</p><p>“I mean, I know he’s not, I just –“</p><p>“No, you’re right, actually.  Dad loves him, treats him like his son.  And I’m… I’ve just got his genetics.”</p><p>“Okay, but if your dad was really that great to Markus, he would’ve stayed, right?”</p><p>“I mean… well, Dad just lives on his own and doesn’t go out a lot, so it’s not like he had to put up with other selkies much,” Leo muttered thoughtfully.  He looked up suddenly.  “…And when I was pushing him, Dad told him not to fight back.  And I – I was like… really beating on him.”</p><p>“Yeah, I dunno, just sounds like he didn’t have a perfect life either.  …Even if it was better than yours.”  Gavin shrugged.</p><p>“I – huh.”  Leo frowned.  “Maybe.  I guess nobody’s got it perfect.”</p><p>“Nah,” Gavin said, nudging Leo just to feel his warm body.  “Ready to go fuck shit up?”</p><p>A smile slowly grew on Leo’s face.  “Yeah,” he said.  “…Yeah, let’s fuck shit up.”</p><p> </p><p>Dad looked half dead, with some new selkie – no, another half-breed – hovering over his shoulder.  He looked tired, lying back in the big stone chair.</p><p>“You see Elijah anywhere?” Gavin muttered out of the corner of his mouth.</p><p>“Nah…”</p><p>“That your old man?”</p><p>Leo nodded.</p><p>“He looks half dead.  Wanna go tell him to fuck off now?”</p><p>“I… I dunno, I might get a drink first –“</p><p>“Nope.”  Gavin grabbed his elbow as he tried to walk away, and slipped his arm around it.  “Need you to keep a clear head tonight.”</p><p>“I – it’s not gonna be too clear if I’m panicking for like… seven hours,” Leo whined.</p><p>“Too bad.  …If I’m gonna punch that asshole’s teeth in, I need somebody I can count on to watch my back.”</p><p>“I’m… honestly I’m probably a really shitty choice…”</p><p>“Leo.”  Gavin grabbed his hand and squeezed, sharp nails digging into his palm.  “Chill.  We’re gonna be fine.”</p><p>Leo took a shaky breath and nodded doubtfully.</p><p>They were making their way around the perimeter of the island, slowly heading towards Leo’s dad, when the lights went out.</p><p>“What –“</p><p>“Shh,” Gavin hissed, freezing.  A few thuds rang out, and some loud shuffling, and the lights came back on.  Carl Manfred was looking up at the odd-eyed half-breed who stood on the back of the stone chair.  There was a steadily growing crowd around him, and the well-dressed selkies were backing away.  Leo and Gavin were just about between the two groups, but enough to the side that no one paid any attention to them.</p><p>“Tonight, this Septennial Night, is the night we take our place in the sea beside you,” Markus intoned, and leapt down to the floor.</p><p>“Dramatic fucker, ain’t he,” Gavin muttered.  A couple others stepped up beside him as he began to speak again, and – “Holy fuck, that’s North!”</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“The – the woman there, she’s the one who sold me skins she found on scavenging runs!  Your skin!  You remember, you met her at least once!  No wonder I haven’t seen her in a while…”</p><p>“The blonde’s Simon, the one they left behind,” Leo muttered.  He nodded at a pale man who looked tired but determined.  “He’s cool.”</p><p>“If you say so,” Gavin muttered.  “Doesn’t seem like the kinda guy North would hang out with, but…”  He shrugged.</p><p>“Maybe she got sick of assholes,” Leo whispered in his ear.</p><p>“Yeah, that explains why she’s not hanging out with you.”  Gavin snickered.</p><p>“Shut up.”</p><p>“Make me.”</p><p>“I – not in front of everybody,” Leo muttered.</p><p>“Nobody’s even looking!  What, are you ashamed to be seen with me?”</p><p>“N-no, I just –“</p><p>“Nah, I get it,” Gavin finally relented, still watching as more selkies and half-breeds arrived.  “…You guys got your own police and military and shit?”</p><p>“I mean, yeah,” Leo muttered, looking around at the selkies in dark uniforms establishing a perimeter.  “…Fuck, there’s a lot of ‘em.”</p><p>“Yeah…  Didn’t think about it, but I guess this is kind of… my fight too,” Gavin mumbled, though he didn’t step forward.</p><p>“Don’t –“  Leo paused and squinted off into the night.  “Shit, there’s more coming.”</p><p>Fighting was starting to break out, and Gavin took stock of the area.  “Stay outta the way,” he muttered.</p><p>“W-what?”</p><p>Gavin grabbed him and kissed him fiercely, then pushed him backwards.  “You’re no good in a fight.  Watch the master.”  He winked, but salt spray got in his eyes and they both closed.</p><p>“You’re a dork.  Don’t… get hurt.”</p><p>“Yeah I’d better not, ‘cause you’d be no help.”</p><p>“I mean it.  …But yeah, that too.”</p><p>Gavin didn’t dive into the fray, but kept to the edges.  Wherever he could pick off a selkie alone, he grabbed them and took them out quietly, leaving them unconscious on the ground or shoving them into the water.  Leo watched until he was lost in the crowd, then grabbed a handful of orca cheese cubes and wove through the selkies trying to catch another glimpse.</p><p>Instead, on the far side of the island he found Markus in a standoff with a selkie he didn’t recognize.  He was a short man with a dark brown skin around his shoulders and a sneer on his face, and he had Markus backed into a corner.  Leo couldn’t hear what was going on, but he knew a rotten deal when he saw one going down.  He pushed purposefully through the crowd.</p><p>“Hey,” he called.  “Hey, asshole!”</p><p>Markus looked over, startled as Leo pushed through the soldiers.  The other selkie didn’t look away from his target.</p><p>“Leo?”</p><p>“Not you, the other asshole.”  Leo took his handful of soft cheese and smashed it right in the other selkie’s face.  Then he bolted, bumping into selkies and half-breeds left and right without caring.  He didn’t notice that the sudden escalation of chaos was more due to the appearance of an army of half-breeds led by a serious-faced man in gray than his own antics.</p><p>When he found another break in the crowd, Leo suddenly skidded to a halt in front of his father.  The old man was a withered husk, and distressed enough that he didn’t notice Leo immediately.  Leo froze, looking for an escape.</p><p>“…Leo?”</p><p>Maybe it was the tone, the particular cadence of the voice, but suddenly he was sixteen again.  Lanky and awkward and wishing he wasn’t standing alone in front of the most important man who’d never been in his life.</p><p>It wasn’t the same, though.  Carl Manfred was fourteen years older now, frail and weak.  And… Leo was fourteen years older too.  He’d seen and done more than he ever imagined, he knew more of the surface than most selkies ever would.  He had… whatever Gavin was.  Something good, either way.  A… connection, leave it at that.  And he realized for the first time, he was stronger and healthier than his father.  He took a deep breath and straightened up.</p><p>“Uh.  H-hi.  Dad.”</p><p>“I’m afraid I’m not up for… much right now,” Carl sighed.</p><p>“Yeah, I – actually, fuck you Dad, I – okay, sorry, just had to get that out.  Is your friend here?  Elijah, the guy who’s making half-breeds into selkies?”</p><p>Carl squinted up at his son.  “…Elijah?  N-no, I don’t believe he planned to come tonight.”</p><p>Leo’s shoulders sagged.  “Shit.  You know where he is?”</p><p>“At home, I expect.  I should have followed his example, but the invitation was quite insistent –“</p><p>“Okay, shut up, nobody cares how important you are,” Leo muttered, waving him off.</p><p>“That – wasn’t my intention.”</p><p>Leo’s face twitched and he turned to look at his dad.  Carl sighed.</p><p>“Leo, I… I know I haven’t been… the father you needed.  It wasn’t something I was… prepared for, and…”</p><p>“I – look, I know you didn’t want me, you don’t have to…”</p><p>“No, but… I always hoped you’d do well.  When I was your age… I made a lot of poor choices.  I never wanted that for you.”</p><p>“Pretty shitty way to show it,” Leo muttered, then grimaced.  “Sorry.”</p><p>“You’re not entirely wrong,” Carl sighed, closing his eyes.  “…You look well, though.  It’s been… seven years now, hasn’t it?  You seem to have done well for yourself.”</p><p>“I – I mean I lost my skin and I was trapped on land for most of the time.  Most of it was pretty awful.  Um.  The last year was… it was good, though.”  He turned to scan the crowd, and saw Gavin punch someone in the stomach.  He had a black eye and a few rips in his shirt, but he was still fighting.</p><p>“I’m glad to hear that, son,” Carl murmured.</p><p>“I, uh... I should go, but… hey, could you tell me where Elijah lives?  His… brother wants to see him.”</p><p>Carl’s eyes shot open.  “His brother?  He’s here?”</p><p>“Yeah, big surprise, huh?  He’s right – oh, I can’t see him now.  He’s a pretty cool guy, though.”</p><p>“That’s no surprise.”  Carl turned aside and coughed weakly.  “He – he lives under a small island just northeast of Kalaallit Nunaat.”</p><p>“That’s – oh, got it.  Humans call it Greenland.”</p><p>Carl looked at him, his eyes still bright in his worn face.  “Yes.  I believe they do.”</p><p>“Well, uh… good to see you.  Dad,” Leo muttered uncomfortably.  “Take care.”</p><p>“You do the same, Leo.  Ah – if… if you’d like… I hope you’ll come visit again when I’m feeling better.”</p><p>“Yeah, I – I’ll do that,” Leo said.  …And he was surprised to realize that he actually kind of wanted to.</p><p> </p><p>Gavin was tearing through the crowd when someone caught his arm.  He whirled and grabbed Leo by the neck, then quickly let him go.</p><p>“Phck, don’t do that, you’re gonna get yourself killed!”</p><p>“Elijah’s not here.  Dad told me where he lives, we can find him.  It’ll take a few days to get there, though.”</p><p>Gavin bit his lip and looked around.  Markus and his entourage were talking to some selkies while the mixed crowd leaned in to listen.  “Fighting’s over, looks like things are going pretty well here…”</p><p>“Yeah, they got it under control.  Unless you wanna stay.”</p><p>Gavin shrugged.  “Not really.  Do you?”</p><p>Leo hesitated only a second before shaking his head.  “Nah.  I’ll come back some time, though.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Leo straightened up and frowned.  “…No, he’s gonna talk to me.  Fuck my dad, this ain’t about him.  I know his brother, that’s why I’m here.”</p><p>The door she’d come through opened suddenly, and Elijah gently pushed her aside as he swam over to look closely at Leo.  “…You know Gavin?”</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Gavin checked his compass and map, and corrected their course a little starboard.  “Sure you don’t wanna swim?”</p><p>Leo barked and slapped the side of the boat.</p><p>“It’s fucking freezing, but you’re built for that,” Gavin muttered, patting Leo’s plump side.</p><p>Leo tapped himself, then Gavin’s hand.</p><p>“…Yeah, I mean ideally we’ll both swim back.  Not gonna stick around up here even if I’ve got the fat to keep me warm.”  He scratched Leo’s side softly.  “You’re gonna have to look for it when we get close, though.  I doubt he’ll have a sign, especially not up top.”</p><p>They reached the Arctic Ocean the next day, and Leo squirmed over the side to start checking out the little islands as they passed.  Gavin was bundled up in as many layers as he could fit, but still shivered as he guided the boat along the coast.  It had been a frigid night even cuddled up with Leo and the sun didn’t help much.  There were a couple small islands in inlets that Leo swam around, but then Gavin spotted a snow-covered triangular island to the north of the mainland, barely visible across the sea ice.</p><p>“I don’t think the boat’s gonna make it,” he murmured.  “Can you check it out?”</p><p>Leo barked and nosed at the boat, and Gavin reached over to rub his muzzle.  </p><p>“Be careful.”</p><p>Leo flipped around and disappeared into the dark sea.</p><p> </p><p>It was clear as Leo got closer that this was no ordinary island.  Windows were carved into the ancient volcanic rock with light pouring from a few of them.  It wasn’t like Dad’s house, though.  This place was more… simplistic.  Leo paused to look at his reflection in the shiny obsidian door.  He smoothed his fur self-consciously before knocking.</p><p>A pale seal with long flippers answered after a moment.  She looked him up and down.  “Can I help you?”</p><p>“Yeah, uh… I’m here to… see Elijah?”</p><p>“I’m sorry, he’s not receiving guests right now.  If you’d like to make an appointment -”</p><p>“Oh no, I – he knows my dad.  Carl Manfred.”</p><p>She paused.  “…I’ll let him know you’re here, but I’m afraid he’s in the middle of something right now and probably won’t be able to make time for you.”</p><p>“I just need like… a minute.”</p><p>She opened the door for him and gestured with a pale, graceful flipper.  “Please wait here, I’ll see if he can spare a minute.”</p><p>The foyer wasn’t huge, but the high ceiling allowed for a massive, faceless seal statue in the center.  Its arms were crossed, but the flippers spread enough to show excessive webbing between the claws.  There was also a huge portrait of Elijah in human form, smirking like a villain from a story.  The facial structure was similar to Gavin’s, but he was far more… polished.  Refined.  Leo floated around looking at things, then settled on a couch to wait.</p><p>Finally the seal returned.  “I’m so sorry,” she said.  “He asked that you say hello to your father, he’d like to catch up later, but he just doesn’t have the time to speak to you now.”</p><p>Leo straightened up and frowned.  “…No, he’s gonna talk to me.  Fuck my dad, this ain’t about him.  I know his brother, that’s why I’m here.”</p><p>There was an odd stillness in the room.</p><p>“I… don’t believe he’s acquainted with Mr. Manfred’s brother…”</p><p>“Not – no, not Dad’s brother, I mean his.  Elijah’s brother.  His half-brother Gavin.”</p><p>The door she’d come through opened suddenly, and Elijah gently pushed her aside as he swam over to look closely at Leo.  “…You know Gavin?”</p><p>He wasn’t as scrawny as he looked from a distance, even allowing for a seal’s thick layer of blubber, or maybe he’d gotten in shape over the past seven years.  Leo scratched distractedly at his sides.  “Yeah, he’s – we’re friends.  I… lived with him for a while.  He’s looking for you.”</p><p>“Is he?”  Elijah slowly floated back.  “Please, come in.  Leo, isn’t it?  And you’ve met Chloe?”</p><p>“Yeah…”  Leo hesitantly followed Elijah inside, and Chloe closed the door behind them.</p><p>“I haven’t seen your father lately, but I hear he hasn’t been in good health.” Elijah’s smile dimmed a bit.</p><p>“Good enough to go to the Septennial,” Leo muttered, and Elijah laughed.  “He looked like sh- uh… I mean he didn’t look great.”</p><p>“I’ll have to pay him a visit soon, and make sure he’s resting.  …And my brother, how is he?”</p><p>“Oh, he’s… he’s good.  Um.  He’s actually up top in a boat right now.”</p><p>“Is he really?”  Elijah stared at him with more intensity than he was comfortable with.  He slowly circled Leo.  “I’ve been looking for him for years, and you lead him straight to me.”  He smiled, showing more teeth than necessary.</p><p>“Yeah,” Leo said slowly, watching him closely.  “So, um… how does it… work?  Turning half-breeds into selkies?”</p><p>“It’s – well, that’s not exactly the correct wording, though to an extent it’s just a matter of how much you believe in the myth of ‘pure’ bloodlines.”  He smirked.  “What are your thoughts on that, Mr. Manfred?”</p><p>“I think it fucking blows.”</p><p>Elijah laughed.  “I quite agree.  Shall we go?”</p><p>“Uh… go?”</p><p>“To see my brother.”  He swam over and took a small package off a low shelf, then flitted out the door with another toothy smile.  Chloe followed suit, and Leo stared for a long moment before hurrying after them.</p><p> </p><p>Leo had been gone for a while.  It felt like hours, but Gavin was pretty sure it had been… maybe half an hour.  Anyway, he was freezing.  He turned the boat and rowed back to where the scraggly dead trees poking through the snow marked some real land, pulled the boat up on the shore, and cleared a small patch in the snow.  The dry branches broke off easily, and Gavin managed to start a little fire.  It wasn’t even a big island, what the hell was Leo doing?  Did he stop for lunch?  Did something big get him?  There were weird sharks and orcas and all kinds of shit up here…  He shivered and rubbed his arms.</p><p>A seal head popped up in the icy water, then another.  Brown and tan, and neither was Leo.  They looked around, then spotted him and ducked back under.  Gavin gritted his teeth.</p><p>Leo appeared where the other two had vanished, then barked across the water and bobbed back under.</p><p>“…What’s that supposed to mean?” Gavin called.  No one answered, but he realized two ripples were approaching fast.  The brown and tan seals slid gracefully up onto the shore.  Gavin scrambled back to put the little fire between them and himself.  The darker seal stopped and scratched at its head, and… a man stood up, pulling down his hood and wrapping his cloak around himself.  The paler seal did the same, becoming a petite blond woman.</p><p>“I was starting to think I might never see you again,” the first selkie said softly, staring at him with intense blue eyes.</p><p>Gavin stared.  His eyes widened.  “…Phck,” he breathed, shivering from more than the cold.  “Eli…?”</p><p>Leo heaved himself out of the water and charged awkwardly towards them, then shook himself when he got to Gavin.</p><p>“You – I finally find the selkies and apparently you’ve been making half-breeds into selkies for… for years!” Gavin snarled, ignoring Leo.  “What the fuck!?  You’ll do all that for total strangers, but not for me?  Guess growing up together didn’t mean shit…”</p><p>“I’ve been looking for you,” Elijah interrupted.  “And perfecting the technique.  Chloe here was the first, isn’t she lovely?”</p><p>“Fuck you!” Gavin snarled.  “I didn’t even go far!  How hard did you even look!?”</p><p>“Apparently you spend a lot of time out of town,” Elijah said, shaking his head.  “Out to sea, I imagine?”</p><p>“I – that’s no excuse, you’re a fucking seal!”</p><p>“Would you like to be one as well?”</p><p>“You… D-don’t ask questions you know the answer to!”</p><p>Elijah pulled a small stoppered bottle out of his cloak, wrapped in an old piece of seal skin.  “Drink this.  Just one good mouthful will do it.”</p><p>Gavin pulled away.  “The fuck is that!?”</p><p>“It’s going to prepare you to become a selkie.  Even if I wrapped a skin around you and it was compatible, your shape and composition need to be different.  I can’t tell you how truly excited I am for this moment.”  He grinned sharply.</p><p>Gavin squinted suspiciously at the bottle.</p><p>“It’s mainly blubber and pheromones,” Chloe piped up.  “And whiskey to wash it down.”</p><p>“It’s what I’ve given to countless half-breeds, and I believe you’ve seen the results.”  Elijah gestured to Chloe, who smiled.</p><p>Gavin hesitated, staring at the bottle.  “…Is Mom still alive?” he asked quietly.</p><p>“…She passed a few years after we left,” Elijah murmured, looking away.  “She always regretted leaving you.”</p><p>Gavin’s face twisted and he cracked off another branch for the fire.  “Guess you never thought about it, though.”</p><p>“Why do you think this has been my life’s work?”</p><p>Gavin glanced up, and Elijah was watching him.  He always seemed guarded, but maybe a little less-so now.  He looked down at Leo, who nosed at his leg.  “…Yeah, fine,” he sighed, grabbing the bottle and yanking the cork out.  He sniffed it, made a face, and downed half the bottle in one gulp.  It burned and clung to his throat, and he gagged and coughed but it was already sliding down.  He doubled over as things started to expand and contract and move inside of him, and the last thing he heard before he passed out was Leo barking loudly.</p><p> </p><p>“Gavin?  You’re all right, just breathe.”</p><p>“Don’t feel bad, lots of people pass out.”</p><p>“…I wouldn’t say ‘lots,’ but… it’s not unheard of.”</p><p>“Shh!”</p><p>Gavin sat up groggily and looked around.  Elijah and the blond girl were crouched near him, watching him.  Leo was lying on his lap, slapping him lightly.</p><p>“Quit it,” he mumbled, pushing at Leo’s flipper.  “…Did… was that it?”</p><p>“That was the first stage,” Elijah said.  “Now… the moment of truth.”  He took the piece of skin that had been around the bottle and shook it loose.  It was a large, ragged triangle that looked like it had been cut with a dull blade.  Gavin’s heart skipped a beat.</p><p>“Momma,” he whispered.</p><p>“It was her gift to you.  It should work now.”</p><p>Gavin slowly reached out and took it.  It was just like he remembered it, uneven and softer than it looked.  He lay it over his arm and… it clung to him.  His breath hitched.</p><p>“You see?  She gave it to you, as I’m giving it now.  For you to transform.  You just needed a little help internally.”</p><p>He threw it around himself and pulled it tight – it wouldn’t fit over his shoulders, so he hurriedly began taking off coats.  Leo barked encouragement as eleven coats fell to the ground, and then he tried again.  It clung, and he could feel it expanding… but it slowed and stopped when it was halfway down his back and upper arms.  He looked down, then up at Elijah.</p><p>“Does it… take a while?”  He tried to control the shaking in his voice.</p><p>“No… it should be instantaneous.”  Elijah was frowning.</p><p>“Well then what the fuck!?”</p><p>“It’s… possible it’s not enough.  That it’s too small.  It would barely have been enough for you thirty years ago, and now…”</p><p>Gavin yanked the skin off his shoulders, putting all his coats back on.  Leo barked.</p><p>“We’re leaving.  I can’t believe – I wasted thirty years of my fucking life looking for this and… and <i>FUCK</i>, Eli, I can’t do it.”</p><p>“It’s just the size, we can get you a –“</p><p>“Yeah, it’s always something!  I should’ve known this was a fucking waste of time...”</p><p>“But you’ve seen that it works, there are hundreds of half-breeds who’ve turned into selkies –“</p><p>“Fuck them!  Fuck you!”  He clutched the skin and kicked snow over the fire, making it hiss.  “Next time I see your slimy face I’m gonna punch your teeth out the back!”  He stalked back to the shore, shoved the boat in the water, and jumped in.  Elijah watched, his expression unreadable.  Leo bounced nervously for a moment, then barked hurriedly at the other two.</p><p>“You’re not going after him?”</p><p>Leo barked urgently, hopping up to him.</p><p>“Ah.  …Well there’s plenty left.  As I told him, a swallow is sufficient, there’s no need to –“</p><p>Leo had already grabbed the bottle and rolled onto his back, clumsily holding it in place to drink the rest of the mixture.  He sputtered and gagged, then reached up for his head.</p><p>“You should wait until it settles,” Elijah cautioned him.  “It’ll be easier to handle as a seal.”</p><p>Leo groaned and rolled over, squirming towards the water.</p><p>“I wouldn’t swim right away either, you need to let it stabilize.”</p><p>Leo barked painfully and splashed awkwardly into the water.</p><p>“…You’re just letting him go like that?” Chloe asked quietly.</p><p>Elijah shrugged.  “I warned him there were risks.  What he does with that information is up to him.”</p><p>“I suppose…”</p><p> </p><p>Gavin was jerking the tiller angrily, steering around chunks of ice.  Of course it hadn’t worked.  Typical.  And he’d just… run away from his life for this, after wasting all his money on seal skins…  He’d thrown away his whole life.  He was an idiot, he couldn’t make excuses for himself anymore.</p><p>There was a thump against the side of the boat, and he looked over to see Leo trailing along beside him.  He wasn’t swimming right, and was starting to float off in the other direction.</p><p>“Hey!  Hey asshole, what’s your problem?” Gavin yelled.</p><p>Leo blinked groggily and shook himself, then slowly corrected his course and bumped into the boat again.</p><p>“You gonna get in or what, dumbass?”</p><p>The seal moaned and tried to keep swimming, but he was struggling to stay afloat.  Gavin killed the motor.</p><p>“Shit, what’d he do to you!?”  He reached out to try to grab Leo, but he was too far away now.  “Hey!  Get over here!”  He grabbed a pole and stuck it out to poke the seal.  Leo weakly reached for it, but couldn’t grasp it.  “Fuck, man, wake up!’</p><p>Gavin eventually managed to haul Leo into the boat, almost falling overboard in the process, and the seal sputtered weakly.  “Did that fucker do something to you?  I’ll go back and rip him in half right now, I swear to –“</p><p>Leo pawed at him weakly, then pawed at his head.  He curled up, and then he was pulling his seal hood down from his dark curls, coughing and gagging, sprawled on the deck.</p><p>“…What the fuck!?  It’s – you can only do that every seven years, right?”</p><p>“Worked,” Leo sighed in relief.  “I… he gave… I wanted… to change… whenever I want, like… like him and Zlatko.  It was just… same potion, the shit you drank.”</p><p>“So you saw me pass out, and decided to drink that shit and jump in the water!?”</p><p>“Didn’t wanna lose you,” Leo mumbled, and shivered.</p><p>“Yeah, well can you change back?  You’re gonna get hypothermia, and I’m already freezing to death with all these coats.”</p><p>“I – y-yeah, I think so…”  Leo pulled up his hood again and squirmed around, a seal once more.  They both exhaled.</p><p>“Just… just stay like that, I’ll get us outta here,” Gavin muttered.  “At least somebody got something out of this waste of time…”  He looked down and frowned.  “Hey.  You okay?”</p><p>Leo’s vision was growing fuzzy, and he tried to tell Gavin he felt like shit, but all that came out was a groan.  The last thing he saw before he passed out was Gavin reaching down towards him.</p><p> </p><p>The next couple of weeks were a blur for Leo.  He slept fitfully and ran a high fever, making it impossible to get warm even when the air wasn’t so frigid.  Even when Gavin unzipped all his coats and pulled the seal to his chest.  It was hard to concentrate on anything, or to move, or even to stay awake.  Fleeting images came to him, and he wasn’t entirely sure if Gavin was holding him up and feeding him mashed fish or if he was dreaming.  Sometimes he was being pulled places, or carried.  Sometimes he was alone, sometimes the sea roared and swallowed him up, sometimes Elijah and Chloe were laughing, sometimes Dad was talking about Markus…</p><p>Sometimes the boat rocked and Gavin was talking.  Maybe to Leo, maybe to himself.  Sometimes he sounded angry, or hopeless, or tired.  He was there, though.  Whatever else was happening, Leo was pretty sure he was there.  He had to be pissed that Leo wasn’t getting up and helping.  …But he was there, and he hadn’t rolled Leo overboard, so… that was enough.</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“I never got to see her transform,” Gavin muttered as he worked.  “Or Eli.  Just – they were both humans when she sent me away, and when I got back they were… gone.”</p><p>“It feels a little like… diving underwater,” Leo said thoughtfully.  “Except not water, something else.  And turning human is like coming up.”</p><p>“You all make it look easy.”</p><p>“Yeah, I mean it’s not hard.  If I can figure it out, anybody can.”</p>
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    <p>“You’re so fucking lucky I dragged your ass out of the water, god you’re such a dumbass, I can’t even –“  The muttered tirade stopped as Leo snuffled into consciousness.  “…You awake?”</p><p>“Mmph,” Leo grunted, and stretched.</p><p>“About damn time, your fever broke last night and you’re still sleeping?  Typical.  You hungry?  …Of course you are.  Hold on.”</p><p>Leo was shifted around, and he realized Gavin had been holding him, sitting on the couch.  Back in his house on land.  He lifted his head groggily.  He couldn’t tell if he felt hungry or sick, but was willing to take the risk.</p><p>“Here.  Fish and oatmeal.  Sounds nasty, but I figured it’d be good for you.  Doesn’t actually smell that bad…”  Gavin offered him a bowl, and Leo sniffed appreciatively.  He took a careful lick, then began to eat enthusiastically.</p><p>“You’re getting it all over the couch, I’ll never get the fish smell out,” Gavin complained, though he didn’t stop Leo.</p><p>“Mph.”  Leo swallowed.  “’s good.”</p><p>Gavin stiffened.  He stared at Leo.  “…Say that again?”</p><p>“Pretty good.  I mean, I’m starving, would’ve been better if it was just fish, but it really hit the spot.”</p><p>Gavin leaned in and grabbed Leo’s flipper.  He smushed the seal’s face.  “Are you… saying words, or am I losing my mind?”</p><p>Leo perked up.  “You can understand me!”</p><p>“Huh.  Eli’s potion must’ve been good for something,” Gavin muttered.  “Gonna make it a hell of a lot easier to talk.”</p><p>“So, um… I was thinking…”</p><p>“Don’t hurt yourself.”  Gavin smirked.</p><p>“You’re such an asshole!”  Leo reached up at pawed at his head, but Gavin swatted his flipper away.</p><p>“Quit it, you need to rest and recover from the last time you were thinking.  Easier to do that as a seal, right?”</p><p>“But –“</p><p>Gavin wiped the bits of fish and oatmeal off the couch and tucked in a blanket around Leo.  “Get some rest, I’ve got shit to do,” he muttered, and went off to his bedroom.</p><p>The latch in the back of his closet had been sticking a little when they’d left, and now it took a good shake to open.  He took a deep breath and stepped inside.  The seal skins were all there, still folded neatly.  Brown and gray and dappled and tan…  None of them had worked before.  It was stupid, he knew they wouldn’t work now, but… but he couldn’t give up completely.  Despite what he’d said.  Not yet.</p><p>There was a soft thump, then a sliding, swishing noise from the living room, and Gavin rolled his eyes as he tried the lightest skin.  He did his best, if Leo wanted to be a dumbass and wear himself out when he was finally healing, fine.  Not his problem.</p><p>He tried almost twenty skins before a voice made him jump and whirl.</p><p>“They’re not gonna work.”</p><p>“Shit!”</p><p>Leo stood there awkwardly leaning on the doorframe, holding a wad of soft skin in his hands.  He had his skin pulled tight around him as a cloak, but most of the left side was missing.  Gavin frowned.  He hadn’t seen Leo in his selkie cloak since he gave it back.</p><p>“You… what are you doing?”</p><p>“Oh, uh… I… um… here.”  He thrust the bundle of skin at Gavin.  “Elijah said… it has to be a gift.  Simon said the same thing.”</p><p>Gavin stood frozen.  “What the fuck?”</p><p>“It’s – it’s mine, but… um.  I’ve got enough to… I was pretty scrawny anyway and I lost a lot of weight on the way back here, I guess.  I already tried, I can shift back with what I’ve got.  It’ll… I mean, I think it’ll grow out.  But… here, take it.”  He shoved the bundle into Gavin’s hands.</p><p>“I… I can’t,” Gavin breathed, staring at it.  “It won’t…”</p><p>“Can you at least try it?  I’ll sew it back on if it doesn’t work, but… but it should, it’s… uh… if it’s not big enough, maybe you could add… your mom’s?”</p><p>“Leo, I –“</p><p>“Just try it, okay?  I don’t know, maybe it won’t work, but… it’s yours if you can use it.”</p><p>Gavin looked up.  Leo was fidgeting awkwardly, fingering the edges of his remaining cloak. Gavin slowly lay the cut piece over his arm, and it clung to him.  He took a shaky breath.</p><p>“I’ll… sew ‘em together, see if… that works,” he mumbled, pushing past Leo to get out of the closet.  He lay the long, dappled piece of skin out on the table, then took the smaller brown triangle of his mother’s skin out of his bag and carefully lay it next to the larger one.  They didn’t fit together, but… they made a decent-sized cloak.  Uneven, mismatched, but…</p><p>He wouldn’t let himself finish that thought, not yet.  He grabbed a little repair kit from a drawer and started stitching the two together with shaking hands.  Leo came over to watch, but didn’t say anything.</p><p>“I never got to see her transform,” he muttered as he worked.  “Or Eli.  Just – they were both humans when she sent me away, and when I got back they were… gone.”</p><p>“It feels a little like… diving underwater,” Leo said thoughtfully.  “Except not water, something else.  And turning human is like coming up.”</p><p>“You all make it look easy.”</p><p>“Yeah, I mean it’s not hard.  If I can figure it out, anybody can.”</p><p>Gavin hesitated and eyed Leo sidelong, then bent to finish his sewing.  When he was done he tied off the thread and stood back.  It didn’t look very impressive.</p><p>“I think it’ll work,” Leo whispered.  “It has to work.”</p><p>Gavin’s fists clenched, and he swiftly turned and pulled Leo close in a bone-crushing hug.  Leo squeaked and gasped for air.</p><p>“Hope you’re right,” Gavin muttered, and pulled away fast enough that Leo staggered.  “If it doesn’t –“</p><p>Leo shoved him.  “Shut up.  Worry about that if it doesn’t.  Try it!”</p><p>Gavin frowned, taking a deep breath.  He’d rather try this without anybody watching, even Leo, but also… he suddenly didn’t want to be alone with this, when it failed again, when his dreams were crushed even further…  He’d do it fast, he’d already been drawing this out for thirty fucking years.  He squeezed his eyes shut, grabbed the skin, and wrapped it around his shoulders with his mother’s skin at the top.</p><p>It happened quickly – the skin clung to him, all over him.  His stomach gurgled and everything began shifting, he was shrinking and widening and falling and Leo was catching him, lowering him to the floor, and there was a pretty good fish smell in the air…</p><p>Then Leo was hefting him back up, trying to pick him up but he was too heavy and his center of gravity was different.  Leo collapsed on the floor laughing delightedly and hugging him.  “See!?  What’d I tell you, you asshole!  It fucking worked!”</p><p>Gavin looked back at himself.  A plump, fuzzy body covered in dark fur, dappled silver… except for an uneven swath of thick brown fur over his left shoulder and up over half his head.  He waved a flipper experimentally.  He slapped his tail against Leo’s legs.  He threw back his head and let out an ear-splitting bark.</p><p>“PHCK YES!”</p><p>“Right!?”  Leo rolled him to the floor and pulled up his own hood.  The transformation took maybe a second longer, and he was noticeably thinner now, but he was grinning as he bumped Gavin with his muzzle.  “You can go back and forth too, try it!”</p><p>“I don’t even want to!”  Gavin rolled on his back and spread his flippers.  “I never have to be human again, fuck that!”</p><p>“I mean you don’t have to, but…”</p><p>“But nothing.  I’m done with that.  Let’s blow this joint.”</p><p>Leo nosed at him.  “It’s a long way down to the water this way.”</p><p>Gavin arched his body up in a half-circle before flopping back flat.  “…Fine.”  He rolled over and pawed at his head, then uncurled his human body and stood up.  He flapped his skin around him experimentally and smiled a little to himself.  “You too, I’m not carrying you.”</p><p>Leo barked sadly and transformed.  “Nice to be able to do that whenever I want…”</p><p>Gavin headed back to the closet and came out with an armload of seal skins.  “Here, grab a bag or something.  I don’t wanna just leave these here.  Can anybody even use them?”</p><p>Leo shrugged.  “Prob’ly not.”</p><p>“Too bad, we’re taking them anyway.  Don’t need anything else, c’mon.  We’re making a stop on the way.”</p><p>They divided up the skins, then Gavin locked the door behind them and they headed out.  Leo made a face when they got to the police station.</p><p>“You can wait outside if you want, I’ve gotta talk to Fowler and Tina.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m not going in there.”</p><p>“Here.”  Gavin shoved his bag of skins at Leo.  “Make yourself useful, then.”  He walked into the little station.</p><p>“Don’t have time for you today, Reed,” Fowler growled without even looking up from his desk.</p><p>“Fuck you, you don’t even know what I’m here for!”</p><p>“I don’t have any open detective positions.”</p><p>“I – I wasn’t gonna ask that, that’s not all I ever ask!”</p><p>Fowler straightened up from his desk, neck cracking.  “Name one time you’ve come through that door that you haven’t asked that.”</p><p>Gavin’s mouth opened, then shut again.  “…Okay, well not today.  That was always plan B anyway.”</p><p>“This had better be good, then.”  Fowler scowled at him.  “…What are you wearing?”</p><p>Gavin looked down.  The cloak looked raggedy. He pulled it a little tighter.  “Nevermind.  Fuck you.  I’m leaving town, I don’t even want your shitty detective job.”</p><p>Fowler’s eyes widened.  “Where are you going?”</p><p>Gavin shrugged.  “I dunno.  Got some ideas, but… yeah, something came up.  I’m taking it.”</p><p>“…But you’re not going to tell me.”</p><p>“I said I don’t know.”</p><p>Fowler sighed.  “…Well you’re a grown-ass adult, so it’s none of my business.  But be careful.”</p><p>“Yeah.  Yeah, I will.  Um.  I’m not gonna be around for a while.  I dunno how long, but… don’t look for me.”</p><p> “Gavin.  Are you all right?”</p><p>“Yeah.”  Gavin grinned.  “I’m pretty fucking great, actually.  …You okay?  You look… more constipated than usual.”</p><p>Fowler shot him a glare.  “That tip you called in a few months back was a real whopper.  Held the guy in the cells for a while, and then one day I come in and the wall’s knocked down and he’s ripped to shreds, and the officer on overnight duty’s half dead.”</p><p>“Shit.  …Zlatko?”</p><p>“That’s what he said his name was.  We couldn’t find any actual records of his existence.  Must’ve made some enemies though, somebody hated him bad enough to break in and kill him.”</p><p>“Fuck.  Guy’s a selkie, he’s just up here to scam suckers and fuck with people.”</p><p>“We’re still trying to sort that shitstorm out.  And there’ve been more and more selkie sightings people want us to look into.”  He rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Good luck with that.  …Tina here today?”</p><p>Fowler nodded over to the archive room, and Gavin paused.</p><p>“Hey, um… sorry.  About… uh…”  He gestured to himself.</p><p>Fowler sighed.  “…Do you want me to tell you that I was just as much of a pain in the ass back in my day?”</p><p>“Really…?”</p><p>“No.  Don’t waste too much of Officer Chen’s time, she’s on the clock.”</p><p>Gavin headed back to the archive room, glancing over at the tarps taped over the back of the cells as he went.  Tina was filing something when he walked in.</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>She turned, and it only took her a moment to get past her shock and run up to shove him into the wall.  “Do you have any idea how long you’ve been gone?  Do you even care, you shit-head!?”</p><p>“I – phck, chill, okay!?  Yeah, I… I was doing some shit, had to leave for a while.  I came back though, right?”</p><p>She glared at him.  “What are you wearing, anyway?  Is – Gavin, this whole selkie thing…”</p><p>“Oh, shut your hole and look at this,” he sneered, and pulled his hood up.  He flopped to the ground and barked triumphantly.  Tina’s eyes grew huge, and he pulled the hood off again and stood up.  “Now who’s crazy?”</p><p>“I – I never said –“</p><p>“You never had to,” Gavin muttered.</p><p>“Well… shit, I…”  She looked a little closer at him.  “…You’re leaving, aren’t you.”</p><p>“I – Tina, I’ve…”</p><p>“Yeah, I know.  You find your seal boyfriend?”</p><p>“He’s, uh… outside.”</p><p>Tina sighed and nodded.  “Still as much of a dumbass as he was before?”</p><p>“More, probably.”</p><p>“Perfect for you,” she muttered, and hugged him tightly.  “Come back some time, okay?  Just to visit?”</p><p>“Course I will,” Gavin muttered, holding her close.  He’d been so eager to leave, but now his heart ached.  “Soon.”</p><p>She sighed and stepped back.  “Okay, well… I figured you were dead before, so I’ll probably miss you less now.  Just… come back.”</p><p>“I said I would!”</p><p>“I mean don’t die!”  She shook him by the shoulders.  “Be careful.  Okay?  You and your dumb seal boy.  …Is he as ugly as you as a seal?”</p><p>“Hey!  …No…”</p><p>“I hope not.”</p><p>“…Hey, can you take care of my place for me?  Do what you want with it – live there, rent it, whatever.  I might want it back some time.  Just – I… I guess you can sell it if you have to, but –“</p><p>She snatched the key as he held it out.  “I’ll keep an eye on it, but I’m not living there.  No amount of cleaning can get your grime out.”</p><p>“You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?”</p><p>“You know it’s true.”</p><p>“What, that I’m disgusting, or that you’re an asshole?”</p><p>“Yep.”  She laughed.  “I’ll hold onto it for you, don’t worry.”</p><p>“Thanks.  That’s – thanks.”</p><p>She offered a lopsided smirk and rubbed his hair affectionately.  “See you.”</p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The two searched all over the ship, but it was falling apart and empty.  There were signs of struggle, and major damage that made it unsafe even to swim through.  </p><p>Leo stopped and sighed.  “…I know where we have to go.  Fucking sucks, but… I know where Markus’ll be.  Or at least I know who’ll know.”</p>
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    <p>Gavin had imagined swimming gracefully through the water, but it wasn’t like that at all.  Leo wasn’t very smooth on the best of days, and between him adjusting to less skin and Gavin adjusting to his seal body, they moved slowly and awkwardly.  The bags of seal skins weighed them down even further.</p><p>“It’s so weird that we can breathe and talk underwater,” Gavin muttered, then coughed and choked on some water.</p><p>“Yeah, I mean you’ve still gotta be careful.”  Leo laughed.  “That’s the difference between seals and selkies.”</p><p>“Fucking weird.”</p><p>“You’re fucking weird…”</p><p>Gavin veered over to bump him, and they both went careening through the water.  It took him a minute to regain his balance.  “You know where we can dump these skins off?”</p><p>Leo blew some bubbles thoughtfully, then perked up.  “Oh!  Yeah, I know a place!”</p><p> </p><p>“Where are we going, the South Pole?” Gavin groaned.</p><p>“It’s not that far…  I think it’s just down that slope.”</p><p>“You think!?”</p><p>“I forget which direction I was coming from!  …No wait, it was Stratford, that’s west.”</p><p>“Fuck, we’re gonna be floating around for years.”</p><p>“No, it’s here!”  Leo swam ahead and pointed down the slope.  “Look.  That shipwreck.”</p><p>“Looks pretty abandoned,” Gavin said doubtfully.</p><p>“Nah, they’re just hiding, they’re in there,” Leo said confidently, heading down.</p><p>The two searched all over the ship, but it was falling apart and empty.  There were signs of struggle, and major damage that made it unsafe even to swim through.  There were fairly fresh bones here and there, picked clean by scavengers.</p><p>“So they’re all dead?” Gavin asked, wrinkling his nose.</p><p>“N-no, they… they can’t be.”  Leo stopped and sighed.  “…I know where we have to go.  Fucking sucks, but… I know where Markus’ll be.  Or at least I know who’ll know.”</p><p> </p><p>The anemone across the Manfred Cavern’s door opened for Leo, and he breathed a sigh of relief.  After all he’d done, the way he’d been for years, he wouldn’t have been surprised if Dad had taken him off the ‘acceptable guests’ list.  Maybe he’d been too busy and too sick to think of that.  Either way, Leo led Gavin inside.</p><p>“Shit,” Gavin breathed, looking around.  “You sure your dad’s not… the king of the selkies?”</p><p>“Nah, he’s just an artist,” Leo muttered.  “Everybody loves him, though.”</p><p>“Did he make that?  Is that a fucking… plesiosaur?” Gavin asked, staring up at the long-necked beast.</p><p>“Nah, I think that’s from his – um.  From your brother.”</p><p>Gavin stared.  “…Why?”</p><p>“Fuck if I know.”</p><p>Gavin nodded.  “Did he paint that?”</p><p>“Hm?  Oh yeah, that’s been there for a long time.”  They looked up at an explosion of color on the wall.</p><p>“What’s it supposed to be?”</p><p>“I dunno, the… triumph of hope over darkness or some shit.  The power of the individual.  Light in the void.  Something like that.”</p><p>“…I don’t get it.”</p><p>“Me either, but –“</p><p>“Leo?”</p><p>The two turned to see a brown speckled seal with mismatched eyes floating down from the upper caves of the cavern.</p><p>“Hey, uh… Markus…”</p><p>“Dad – ah… Carl’s… resting,” Markus said awkwardly.  “He’s been… doing better lately.”</p><p>“Oh, uh.  Uh.  Good.”  Leo’s nose twitched.  He glanced back at Gavin.  “We, uh… we actually wanted to see… you.”</p><p>“Oh?”  Markus’s eyes widened, and he glanced between Gavin and Leo.  A couple other seals floated down from upper rooms – Leo recognized Simon, as well as a reddish brown seal and a pure black seal who had been at the Septennial.  “What… about?”</p><p>“We’ve – I’ve got all these skins,” Gavin said, swimming forward and offering his bag.  “Dozens of ‘em, I was… um… hoping one would work on me, but… I guess it doesn’t work that way.  Anyway, I don’t know what you’ll do with them, but –“</p><p>“Shit, Gavin!?” the reddish seal exclaimed.</p><p>Gavin squinted.  “…North?”</p><p>“You look terrible.  I figured it had to be you.”  She scrunched her nose.</p><p>“Yeah, all those skins you brought me, I don’t want ‘em anymore.  Got my own.”</p><p>“Is that two skins sewn together?” the dark seal asked, floating up to examine him.  “That’s fascinating – both were gifted?”</p><p>“None of your fucking business!” Gavin growled, hackles rising.</p><p>“No, that’s… how it works,” Simon explained.  “They’d have to be, or you wouldn’t be… here.”</p><p>“Yeah, so can you even do anything with these?” Leo asked, nudging Gavin gently.  “I guess you don’t know whose they are.”</p><p>“They were all flotsam, I checked,” North muttered.</p><p>“They can be… repurposed, though,” Markus said.  “I think.  Using Kamski’s method, we can give them to other half-breeds who don’t have a full selkie to give them one.”</p><p>“Take ‘em, then,” Gavin muttered, shoving them at Markus.  “I don’t want ‘em.”</p><p>“Hey,” North said, nudging him and rolling her eyes with a grin.  “Fucking selkies, huh?”</p><p>“Dumbasses, all of ‘em,” Gavin muttered with a snort, glancing fondly at Leo.  “This is great, but can we go?”</p><p>“Yeah, uh.  I guess… see you around,” Leo muttered to Markus.  “Let me know if… anything happens with Dad.”</p><p>“I’ll take care of him,” Markus promised.  “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’ve always got time for D- for Carl.”</p><p>Leo’s face twitched.  “Just call him Dad, I know that’s how it is,” he grumbled.</p><p>“I wouldn’t –“</p><p>“Whatever.  Doesn’t change shit between me and him, does it?”</p><p>“Leo…”</p><p>“Let’s go,” Leo interrupted, and brushed past Gavin out the door.  Gavin shrugged and followed him out.</p><p> </p><p>“So this doesn’t make us… brothers or something, does it?” Gavin asked, patting his dappled fur as they drifted in the current.</p><p>“What?  No, that’d be fucking weird.”</p><p>“Yeah, just checking.”  He swam up and smushed his muzzle into Leo’s shoulder.</p><p>“Where’re we going now?”</p><p>“Fuck if I know – I don’t know a damn thing down here.  Lead the way.”</p><p>“Oh, I – I don’t… I just kinda… float, and…”</p><p>“Sounds good,” Gavin said with a shrug.  “See what we find.”</p><p>“Okay…”  Leo had never really led the way before, but if they were just floating along… He scratched nervously at his sides.  “I, uh… I don’t know anywhere really good…”</p><p>“We’ll figure it out.  Doesn’t have to be like your old man’s place, that’s too high-class for either of us.  Or just – we can just keep floating, right?  How hard is it to navigate down here?”</p><p>“Um.  It… takes some practice…”</p><p>“But we can go up and check the stars at least, if we get lost.”</p><p>Leo blinked.  “Oh.  Huh.”</p><p>“…I mean, I can.  You always sucked at it.”</p><p>“They all look the same,” Leo muttered.  “I can see better as a seal, though.”</p><p>“We can float around for a while, anyway.  Just relax.  Do nothing.”</p><p>Leo sighed contentedly.</p><p>“…This is boring as fuck,” Gavin said after a minute.  “Is there anything to do down here?”</p><p>“Lots!  …Um.  I… I used to know where to get real good jellyfish…”</p><p>“Yeah, not happening.  Did I tell you somebody broke into the jail and ripped Zlatko apart?”</p><p>“No shit?”</p><p>“Yeah.  Scumbag had it coming, the way I see it.”</p><p>Leo scrunched his nose in thought.  “…He was really nice to me.  At first.”</p><p>“You know that was literally just to get your money, right?  You heard how he talked to you in the market.”</p><p>“Yeah… I mean, he was busy…”</p><p>“He was fucking using you.”  Gavin bumped into his side.  “You can do better.”</p><p>Leo grumbled noncommittally.</p><p>“Are you seriously saying I’m as bad as that fucker?  I’m an asshole, but c’mon.”</p><p>“Oh – no, I just…”</p><p>“Right.  So shut your hole and let’s go.”</p><p>“Okay,” Leo mumbled, swimming along in the current beside Gavin now.  “Um.  Where?”</p><p>Gavin bumped into him again, still not very graceful in his seal form.  “Someplace better.”</p><p>“Someplace better,” Leo echoed quietly with a crooked smile.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading all the way through!  I had a lot of fun writing this.</p><p>And again, HUGE thanks to Ari for reading through everything numerous times, catching the little mistakes and helping fix the big ones.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Find me on <a href="http://anomalous-appliances.tumblr.com">Tumblr.</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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